From TeemuL: Army of Dead and Army General (60 points)

"Murin and Drar, were they really there (3000 Years Ago!), when Battle of Pelennor Fields took place? This a question we like to answer with our forthcoming movie 'Wild Wandering Adventures of Murin and Drar during the time of Lord of the Rings' or one of its' sequels or spin-offs. It is very likely, we like to think and here you can see some storyboards, were these two iconic heroes are there fighting alongside the Dunharrow ghosts, filthy oathbreakers. May be all those arrows were not from Legolas, maybe he miscounted his toll, I dare to ask. The movie is still in pre-production, so we have to think about the possibilities, not restrictions, you understand?"

My "Dwarfs, Rohan and Mithril"- labeled box has at least one error, there are 16 Dunharrow warriors there, but not any label to tell so! Well, here are six first out from that box. I followed my 4 year old simple recipe, which you can find here: Post from 2018.

Yes, very simple paint job, suitable for grabbing some quick and easy points at the start of the Challenge, so I can relax later. Light Grey, Blue wash and Bone drybrush. These sculpts are very nice, not just some formless ghosts, but very characterful minis.

I tried to take a detailed look, but still I'm not able to see any proper (ghostly) skulls here, there's flesh, no bone...  I need to find something else for the Skulls Challenge than Lotr minis.

I'll try to paint the remaining ten (they are metal casts) during the Challenge while trying to empty the box. Unfortunately I couldn't claim any of these to any nearby Studio location nor are any of them female so I'm stuck for the Casting Couch for time being.

Let's forget the WWAoMaDdttoLotR movie (and the acronym) for a while and move on. You might remember Sludge the Wargame, I painted several minis for that during previous Challenge. Quite similar to popular Turnip28, which is getting some love during this Challenge.

I have now started a second army for Sludge, Blaster 04 magazine includes expansion for original Sludge, allowing to create different nations, one of them can have giants, one has flyers and one has crawlers etc. So yes, over here you can see my army commander (unnamed at the moment) with his flag bearer and a crawler (very similar to M3 Stuart). I started the crawler before the Challenge, so I can't claim any points for it - I'm at the opposite side of the Studio than Under Construction! But I just wanted to share it here, since I'm quite happy with it. The gun barrel is not original, it is a paint brush protector tube and radio mast on the behind is now a flag pole (not visible).

Usually the Sludge minis are quite conversion heavy, but this command stand is pretty much straight from the Austrian Napoleonic Cavalry 1798-1815 box, there might be a piece or two from somewhere else. I wanted my commander to have some kind of sharpness and tidyness, so I avoided conversions. I really like the bold colours on them, quite opposite to the dusty crawler (I need to create a good story to explain that), the paints are mostly Citadel Contrast paints except the white, which is more traditional approach.

The backstory for this army is that they are from mountains, they have plenty of iron and ore, but not that much gunpowder. That's why they have the tank-like crawler and basic infantry has plate mails, but fight with cross bows. They are more heavily converted than the commander. The flag here shows the anvil and the hammer inside a circle, just explaining it here in case someone has poor eyesight or not enough imagination.

The mud on the base is my own mix of sand, pieces of twigs, brown paint, white glue and water. Twigs and grapevine twigs(?) painted yellow to create exotic look and some orange sand to represent rust, fungus or something like that. I'm quite happy with that, too.

Scoring, 6 warriors on foot, 2 mounted, all 28mm, so 50 points. No skulls, Studio locations etc.

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What an excellent post, Teemu! I know the Dunharrow ghosts can be doodle to paint, but they are always welcomed as they are so characterful and creepy. 

I'm also loving the beginnings of your new Sludge faction. I'm enjoying the background of them being mineral rich, but gunpowder poor. Your crawler conversion is hoot, with its oversized cannon and hull covered in rust and grime. I also think your banner is ace, with its stylized anvil and 'T' (for Teemu?). 

As it's the Holiday Season, I'm going to give you a few extra points for the Crawler and the banner. Thanks for sharing them!

Great, imaginative work, Teemu! Well done.

Curt