From TeemuL: Orclike creatures (70 points)

Couple of weeks ago I posted an entry about all things green. Today I'm not far off that subject, but this is more a study of orcs rather than of a green. And the "study" is created while typing, after I managed to create a topic which would gather all the models of this week. Orc is a tricky word, I believe, everyone knows what orcs are, but no-one really knows what orcs are or what they look. :) It is a specific but generic term with many different points of view, different lores and different authors/artists.

These are Uruk-Hai from Games Workshop Lord of the Rings range based on the movie trilogy by the same name. In the movies Uruk-Hai are creatures created by Saruman, in the books they come from Mordor, but Saruman just manages to enhance them to not be afraid of daylight.  Tolkien's orcs were originally corrupted elves, Jackson's version is mix of orcs and goblin.

I chose to paint 5 of these, just enough for another squirrel, but they were so quick to paint, that I primed another 5, which might get painted later in the Challenge. I have largish collection of painted Uruk-Hai, but only 3 with pikes before this. Definitely need for more, luckily I have lots to paint. These are 20 years old or so, gathered from here and there over the years. These "orclike creatures" are brown skinned and heavily armoured and have long pikes, which gives them unique fighting abilities in the game. Very quick to paint, like I told. brown skin and armour cover almost everything. The photos are quite bright, but there are two layers of black wash over the plate mail to give them darker and more industrial look. Brown bases to finish them off, green tufts to add some colour to all brown, black and metal.

The next one is a mean, green killing machine, so I'd say an orclike creature. For Toy Story bonus round I painted a Centurion tank for my Delmonteland project, but since Wars of Insurgency rules are not really about tanks, I thought the jungle troops would need another kind of vehicle. The answer came from the box of toy cars I bought Gaslands in mind, but this 4x4 Cherokee is claimed to be 1/64 scale, so the same as the Centurion, so it should be a perfect fit.

I painted the car green, then added lighter green highlights, painted the windows and tires black and bumpers brown. A little bit colour to the lights and then some muddying. The freehand palm tree and slogan on the roof were painted light grey and highlighted with white.

The trunk opens, so I painted the inside yellow, looks quite practical. Some thin lines to windows to mimic reflections. Not necessarily the best effect, but at least something to break the blackness.

In the photo below I have included two jungle warriors I painted before to better show the size and scale. Looks may be a bit big, but probably just big business... "Let's go Bananas" is something I invented tongue in the cheek, something eager mercenaries might think when going to fight in the jungle. Afterwards I learnt that there is a Canadian TV show for children with the same name, so salute to Canadians is included (unintentionally).

Another size comparison, this time with Warlord Games WW2 jeep. Again, looks a bit bigger, but clearly the design is not so Spartan, so not a problem for me. Someone might argue about the correct scale for 25/28 minis, but for me this is close enough - especially when this was supposed to be a cheap side project.

The following 3 photos show the Cherokee before my salvage job. I liked the red paint and "Mad Bull" text, may be I should have stick to that instead of "Let's go Bananas"?

It can clearly be seen that this toy car has seen lots of action and most likely love. I hope to field it for my games so it can enjoy the new life and love.

And the last photo shows the technical details, 4x4 Cherokee by Majorette, Made in France, 1/64 scale and No 256.

And then some actual orcs, at least the Games Workshop version of them. Games Workshop orcs in the Fantasy (or Grim Dark) setting are greenskinned. They are not evil as such, they just like a good fight and enjoy destruction. Back in the days orcs were considered brave warriors, nowadays they are cowards hiding inside armours, made of metal gone through pigs... This entry shows the more heroic orcs rather than those cowards. These are (or were) called Savage Orcs and as you can see, their equipment and weapons are from the lo-tech end of the technology tree.

Yes, good old metal orcs with goblin green bases and red weapon shafts! I guess I'm bit of a dwarf and savage orc inside me, dirstrusting pretty everything too new and modern...

I added some variety, each one has different coloured skin or fur and there are actually 5 different sculpts here, even though two pairs look quite the same - but not exact. Shields are quite modern, but they are rather rough, so they fit these savages better.

In general they were painted basecoat, highlights and gentle wash, but there are some variations here and there. The bone weapons of the boss guy have severel layers for example where as the red eyes have just the basecoat.

What might surprise you, there savage beasts (as some imperial scholar might call them) have zero skulls on them! Bone and stone weapons, feathers, severed head, all kinds of armbands, bracelets and nose rings, but not a single skull. Well, if you want skulls, you'll have them next week!

"28mm LotR Forces of Evil" squirrel, no robots or skulls, 25 points for 5 minis.

25mm vehicle for 20 points, no skulls or new squirrels.

"28mm Warhammer Fantasy Orcs" squirrel, no robots or skulls... 25 points for 5 minis.

Total 70 points, 2 squirrels.

With all these points I reach the halfway of my target with two weeks to go!

Oh boy Teemu, what a great mix of offerings you have for us today! I do like both the versions of that architypal enemy: the trusty Orc or Ork. Those Uruk Hai really look good, but I like the Savage Orcs better they are goofy and just ooze charakter! That Cherokee is the cream of the crop for me, what a nice rescue job, the banans theme does really work well indeed, so get those brushes started and try to paint some more we sure like to see more of these kinda posts!

Cheers Sander 

From TeemuL: Army of the Dead (50 points)

I told last week, that I was going away for the weekend, and I did. It was hard to get back to painting minis after the break and I was busy with other life, too. I decided to paint something simple I had prepared and here you are. Feels almost like cheating, I could send these to Byron as statues and he'd give me 1 point per model, but since they are not terrain, I get 5 points per mini! :)

These are all old metal minis, Army of the Dead for the world of Lord of the Rings. I have previously painted a lot of plastic ones and some characters, but these are the really old stuff I have managed to acquire somewhere sometime. Nice minis, lots of different sculpts and being ghost-like rather easy to paint, since ghost skin, ghost clothes, ghost armour and ghost weapons are exactly the same colour. There is one king of course and then nine soldiers, these were sold in boxed set like this.

King of the Dead

Here's what I painted 8 years ago: 2018 Army of the Dead

And 4 years ago I toyed with idea to paint these ten during that challenge (Fool of a Took!): 2022 Army of the Dead

Lots of ghosty cloaks

Minis were primed black and then two coats of grey to get an even finish. Then some very old Dark Blue Ink all over them before a light bone coloured drybrush. Basework is my usual Lotr base, brown with brown sand and brown wash and finally brown drybrush. :) Some tufts here and there. It is kind of shame to paint these nice metal sculpts so fast, but I don't know how paint them "better" either. Looking at the photos again, I think they are quite nice in the end, the deep blue shadows and pale highlights create kind of a ghosty feel - I've never seen a ghost, so I'm not sure, but something I might imagine.

Ten of these nice minis should give me 50 points (I told this feels like cheating!). They are ghosty, but there are no skulls. One squirrel though, "Lotr Forces of Good", which should give me a total of 10 at the moment.

There's no cheating here Teemu, these are proper 28mm figures and you can paint them as complicated as you like or not. They still look really good! I also really like that you have included your earlier efforts in bringing these to the table, brings back good memories to earlier Challenges!

 

Go strong Pippin me lad! 

From RhysH - 28mm and 32mm Fantasy and Sci-Fi (30 points)

This week Rhys has models for four different games. Some are 28mm and some are 32mm and the Crisis Protocol is even bigger than that.

First up is a Bones dragon that my dad gave me. It doesn't stand up well.

I love all dragons but this one is another black dragon.

This is Bucky, the Winter Soldier.

The bases for Crisis Protocol are really big.

These are the customizable Jedi for Star Wars Legion

The double bladed lightsaber is the best in game. The third option is to have two lightsabers.

Last up is Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth. This is the new plastic model and is GREAT.

The layered way that GW builds models now is hard to put together but they look really good.

Imrahil is one of my favorite characters so I'm really excited about this new model.

That's 4 x 28-32mm models for five points each = 20 pts

1 x 28mm monster = 10pts (?)

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Hi Rhys - thank you for another varied submission, touching on so many different areas and themes! I too love Dol Amroth from Tolkein's setting, and I had not realized there are new plastic figures available for them. Your description of GW's approach to newer plastic figures is apt - they are indeed more "layered". I see this as a side-effect of using software for designs, but it also has upsides - the figures can be quite beautiful. 

Imrahil is my favourite here, ready to face the evil forces from the East!

I think 10 points for the Dragon is fine with me - that makes for 30 points for you.

GregB

From TeemuL: Faramir's Ranger (5 points)

Hello fellow participants and followers! I'm back for my... umpteenth(?) AHPC and my first ever mini for AHPC was a Ringwraith from GW's LotR range. I have quite often started my Challenge with GW LotR minis and this time it is not different!

This is one of the Faramir's rangers, a metal mini which I got from one of the second hand loot boxes I have acquired just in case... I first thought he was an elf and primed him a while (year and a half) ago with "other elfs" until recognizing him. Apparently he is the only ranger I have, but he was nice to paint so who knows if gets company...

I really like GW's old LotR range. The minis are not that heroic and almost like scale models based on the movies. So there are not insane amount of skulls or other megasized small details, but there are lots of layers of different cloths, like this ranger proudly shows. I went through my collection of greenish and brownish paints and mixed them trying to separate each layer.

I have often used basecoat, wash and drybrush method, but recently I have tried to make the results better. Instead of drybrush I have highlighted the raised areas once or twice instead of drybrushing and surprisingly it is not that more time consuming, but looks a bit better. Nowadays the wash is the last step, just need to be careful not to use too dark wash.

I lost the number of times I fixed the bow, the upper part fell of so many times. Maybe it was already broken before priming, I can't remember. It looks ok now, but don't touch it! Some sand and couple of tufts to finish the model, brown bases are my choice for Middle-Earth. This should give me my first five points for the Challenge! Looking forward to collect some more during the Christmas time.

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First, welcome back to the Challenge, Teemu!

I always enjoy your LotR entries and this one is no exception. I do like your new approach to your highlighting. The colours seem more vibrant and the raised relief more distinct. Well done! My vote is for you to get more Rangers as this fellow clearly now needs more comrades to keep him company in the wilds of Middle Earth. :)

5 points to you for your ascent to your target. Well done!

- Curt

From TeemuL: Elven Heroes (25 points)

My last entry for AHPC XV are these metal High Elf heroes from Games Workshop's LotR range.

There's Elladan and Elrohil (or vice versa), Erestor and then two different sculpts of Glorfindel. All painted with blue cloaks, golden armour with bluish mithril chainmail and green pieces of clothes to mark their nobility - my high elf infantry are coloured in similar way, but they don't have any greens.

They are bit rushed here and there, but on the other hand I'm very happy with some of the details or colours, the cloaks look quite like what I intended for example. The golden armour too, especially the helmets. They are all heroes, but they all from the same force, so limited palette was chosen. It might be easier to game with these if Elladan and Elrohir would have different colours for example, but not me!

Erestor and armoured Glorfindel are very similar, clearly sculpted at the same time, I assume. The newer Glorfindel is a different thing, very heroic and massive cloak compared to the other two. The cloaks of the brothers are similar to this one, probably from the same era. Although there are newer sculpts of the brothers, so I might be mistaken.

I believe 25 points is correct for 5 minis. Now I go to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning about an hour before the Challenge ends. I hope Curt and other minions can handle the barrage of remaining hours! 

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Lovely work Teemu. I really like saturated blues and greens you've used for these figures - it gives them a very regal air. As time passing from the release of the first LotR movies I am constantly astonished at the number and variety of models GW has created describing Tolkien's character, with some having many different models depicting them at different times in their lives. It's amazing. 

Teemu, thank you for your participation, your faithful and kind comments to others and your minioning of the Thursday crew. It's all very much appreciated by myself and others. I look forward to seeing you with us for the next edition of the Challenge.

- Curt

From TeemuL: Haldir's elfs (35 points)

It is March and I present you the first LotR minis of the current AHPC from me... I guess that shows how varied, unfocused and distracted my Challenge has been. Anyway, here they are. Seven of Haldir's elfs, one carrying the banner and rest holding dangerous elven swords. I painted Haldir himself and six archers late last year, so these models quite nicely wrap this small project up.

Gold and blue work very well together, I even gave the chainmail a blueish tone applying a watered down blue ink over metallic paint. It gives an elven feel to the armour, I guess. One problem is that golden armour, yellow hair and pale skin get easily looking quite the same, especially when all of them got a Reikland Flesh Shade treatment.

The banner was painful, it has very fine sculpted detail which I tried to follow with golden paint. Of course there are folds, too. It looks quite ok in photos, but do not zoom or came here to take a closer look. :) If you take a close look, you might notice that there are two slightly different sculpts of warriors. They are very minor, but still. I have three of each. Same story with archers. I guess they were made in a hurry with very little film material to work from. Anyway, quite nice metal minis, the swords are rather thick, but that's understandable.

Previous elfs were happy to have base colour and wash, but I thought giving the banner bearer couple of highlights on his cloak and then carried the same, very quick and dirty, approach to rest of the group, too. Archers will stay darker, but maybe they are in the shadows aiming Uruk-Hais...? The hightlight could have been stronger, but at least it is better than nothing.

In other news, I'm stuck in Paradise after finishing the first circle, but I do have some plans. I hope I have enough time...

7 28mm minis for 35 points, please.

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Oh what lovely additions to your LOTR collection! The Blue Gold colour palette is striking  and I do see what you mean by the elves looking too uniform. 

The banner was definitly worth the pain, it looks terrific :)

Another 35 points to your scoreboard

- Sarah

From RhysH - Basileans and Werewolves

 Rhys' entry this week is more troops for his Mantic Basileans and two Wargames Atlantic Werewolves.

First up are three Elohi, monstrous infantry for the Basileans.

These are big models, 54mm. That's a 28mm Wargames Atlantic werewolf next to him.

Kings of War has a lot of options for unit sizes but three is a normal size for these guys.

Their wings are quite nice, even if the rest of them is a little bit bendy.

Next up are two battle cats for the Basileans. It's really one and a mount with no rider, but who's really counting.

The one on the right is from Vanguard and is noticeably better than the older one.

You can really see the armor from this angle.

They are both very dynamic poses.

Continuing the theme are nine panther riders. In the Basilean army the light troops are female and their fast cavalry are riding these big cats.

Lances and shields, but light armor.

Rhys followed the colors of the studio army with blue and white tabards.

Again, you can see the dynamism of the poses of these models. They are soft PVC plastic, but if they get re-done in hard plastic they will be pretty amazing.

The last entry is two Wargames Atlantic werewolves. I bought this box for Silver Bayonet and Rhys managed to talk me out of two of them for LotR/MESBG.

These are a new release, perfectly timed for The Silver Bayonet. They are a very nice modular kit with lots of options for posing.

Rhys went for a darker, grassier base on these than he normally chooses.

These stand the same height as a 28mm figure. Many werewolves are significantly bigger than the humans they turned out of. Rhys and I like the size on these.

This entry is: 

Two 28mm infantry x 5pts = 10pts

Two 28mm cats x 5pts = 10pts

Nine 28mm cavalry x 10pts = 90pts

Three 54mm Infantry x 10pts = 30pts

Total = 140pts

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Oh what a bunch of nasty beasties! Well done!

You must have had alot of fun with these bad boyz ... I particularly like the wings on the Elohi Infantry. and werewolves are always scary, especially giant ones!

I'm looking forward to seeing what you next paint

Cheers

Sarah