From AaronH - Eight 28mm Uruk-Hai swordsmen (40 Points)

"There were four goblin-soldiers of greater stature, swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands.  They were armed with short broad-bladed swords, not with the curved scimitars usual with Orcs; and they had bows of yew, in length and shape like the bows of Men.  Upon their shields they bore a strange device: a small white hand in the centre of a black field; on the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal."

Eight swart, slant eyed gobin-soldiers.

The above quote is from the first chapter of The Two Towers.  It is the first time that the fellowship comes in contact with Uruk-Hai.  The imagery from the movie is different of course.  Bare shields and the white hand on the helmet.  That is how most people paint their Uruks.

A closer view of four of the orcs.

I do want mine to look like the movie but I prefer the imagery from the books where there is conflict.  This will also make my Uruk-Hai stand out from everyone else's.  The S rune is the elvish rune as, obviously, that is the language that a wizard would use over Dwarfish.

The other half of the line.

These are 28mm plastics from Games Workshop.  They are, in common with most of the LOtR plastics, mixed quality.  They have great detail in some spots and then meld into featureless blobs in others.

This close up shows a couple of spots I missed.  My camera is better than my eyes.

These models were surprisingly frustrating to paint.  My initial colors were too light.  I ended up re-painting the leather three times.  Finally opting for a brown I've never used before.  It finally gave me the dark look I was looking for.  The issues with the detail also made it hard to tell which part of the model was which until it was painted.  I had to go back over several spots that I thought were one thing, but turned out to be another.

These eight are the start of my Isengard army.  I've had these models for ten years and am only now getting paint on them.

Rear and shield view.

The next two batches will be more Uruks.  Pikes and crossbows.  The third lot is not part of my plan, but I'm ahead of schedule right now so I'm going to add them in.

It feels great to get these guys painted.  They are the army I always start new players with. They are very forgiving.  They will have more pull if they are painted.

From Curt:Excellent work Aaron! I've always liked these models, even though the detail on them can often be a bit soft at times - if you persevere (which you certainly have) then you'll be rewarded with a very nice force. The choice of marking them with Saruman's S rune is brilliant, I may have to nick that. Also, I quite like the skin tone you've chosen for them as it will make them stand out nicely on the tabletop (it's very easy to paint-up these guys too drab, which I have done). Great job!

These eight Uruks will give Aaron 40 points.