Stormcrow

I've recently had a chance to start a Pathfinder campaign! I've never actually played an RPG before, although I've read the rulebooks and admired the bestiaries for years, so I've enjoyed finally getting a chance to play. Most of my recent painting has been inspired by my character and the background I've built around him, so I'll talk a bit about him before I post my recent miniatures.

First up, about the miniature. He's a plastic GW Aragorn, from the Mines of Moria starter set. I got him used and badly primed, so my work on him was half paint job, half reclamation job. He turned out well, though.

As some will have guessed by this point, my character's a Ranger (half-elf, goes by the name of Auluin Stormcrow). At the start of the campaign, he suffers from amnesia, remembering nothing of his youth. He was discovered in the wrack of a squatter's town in a Elf wood by some evil druids. He's raised by these druids as a servant until they fall a little behind in debt payments to a ghoul tribe, and the ghouls decide to collect- in food. While the druids get slaughtered, Auluin manages to escape, and remembers something- he hates these things. Armed with this knowledge, he sets off to fight all such unnatural monstrosities, and perhaps, just perhaps, he'll remember more of his past when he kills enough....

It may be a very archetypal ranger, but it's fun to play!

Eledhel

A while back, I painted a High Elf test model. It turned out great, and remains one of my favorite miniatures that I've painted. You can't just have a single Elf, though, and so, again inspired by the designs of Alan Lee, I painted an Elf captain.

He's a Games Workshop Elrond, but I painted him in the colors of Fingon, the High King of the Elves in Beleriand during the Second Age of Middle-earth, to go with my other painted High Elf. I'm really happy with how the cloak turned out, white is a difficult color to get right.

It can be a little hard to tell, but I added a good bit of detail to the cloak base. The trim took a while to paint, but, as with the rest of the miniature, it turned out well.

Ringbearer

I've been re-reading The Lord of the Rings yet again! It always astounds me that, although I've already read it nine times, there is always more layers to uncover, more depth to the narrative than I had remembered. This time around (I'm at Cirith Ungol), I am struck by the centrality of the Ring's journey into Mordor, and especially Frodo's courage and responsibility throughout Book IV- he is truly 'one who shall find a way'. 

This particular Frodo is supposed to be from somewhere between Rivendell and Lothlorien- he has Sting, but no Elven cloak or brooch. While I took the basic color scheme from the Jackson films, I added some details, and changed around colors to suit my taste. I tried to capture some of the 'Elvish air' mentioned in the book about his face with sharper and lighter skin tones.

Here you can see the two largest changes I made to him. First, his coat is a tweed material- this was surprisingly easy to paint, I simply shaded it as normal, and then added very small lines in a lighter color. Sting has also been changed, with a golden hilt and blue detailing on the blade. This reflects Sting's glow whenever Orcs are near, as they will be in most wargames.

The cloak is a simple, faded green, travel worn like my Dunedain's cloaks. I'm really pleased that the sculptor included packs on all the GW Fellowship Hobbits- it adds a great deal more realism to the sculpts.

Uton Herian Holbytlan!

Ghash!

One of the most frightening and memorable sequences in the Lord of the Rings is the Mines of Moria. Tolkien did a great job of building up the tension towards the climatic fight in the Chamber of Records, and the well-written excerpts from the Book of Mazarbul  make the approaching threat come alive. In painting Games Workshop's Moria goblins, I decided to try for a creepier, more troglodyte look than is seen in the movies, to better reflect the sense I have of them in the book- I think I succeeded!

Most people, including me, think of goblins as green. While this works great for most goblins, what about those who dwell in caves, never venturing out under sun or moon? It would make sense that, as they became more adapted to an underground environment, they would begin losing the now useless pigmentation, as seen in cave fish. Unlike cave fish, of course, these goblins still have eyes that have become accustomed to the dark, like Dungeons and Dragons darkvision.

Also, in an environment such as Moria, certain materials like leather or wood are very hard to come by. Because of this, the goblins' bows are made of metal- some kind of lightweight alloy of the Dwarves, perhaps. The straps and other items usually made of leather are painted a dull green- maybe troll skin?

I'm really happy with how the armor turned out. I wanted it a good bit darker than, say, that of an elf, so I drybrushed Army Painter gunmetal over the very dark Vallejo paint of the same name. 

This still left the problem of weathering- no self-respecting orc would ever wear shiny new armor. This was solved by more drybrushing, this time using various shades of brown- a technique similar to what I used on my Uruk Hai, but it worked much better here.

So, these are albino cave goblins, who don't even need the light of torches to see by. But what happens when they do encounter torches? Especially, what happens when a fiery Balrog starts stirring in the depths they call home?

The answer lies in the red stripes present on the goblins armor and clothing. As seen throughout history, indigenous cultures are quick to adapt such cataclysmic events as religious ceremonies or cults- and the goblins are no different.

A cult of fire has sprung up among this tribe, present on these models primarily as caste markings. The more warpaint (red pigment is a valuable commodity among goblins) on a goblin, the higher up on the totem pole it is. All of these miniatures are lower ranking warriors, with only a small amount of pigment available for decoration.

When I paint warleaders for this growing band, I may also add a small number of charred mutilations- most likely as a sign of extreme bravery or religious devotion, as goblins are not known for their high pain tolerance.

It's in the Cards

While most of what I post involves tabletop games, I also enjoy playing a variety of board and card games. One of these is Fantasy Flight's Arkham Horror LCG. Something I like about the game is its high-quality card art- I make a point of checking out all the art as I play, although I never anticipated that I would recognize one of the locations...

Since I was a child, my family has vacationed in the North Georgia mountains, mostly around Helen GA, and Unicoi State Park. This continues a tradition that has been ongoing since my mother was a child. When we go, we always make sure to visit the Old Sautee Store, an old country store in the small town of Sautee. The store is known for its troll statue, which currently resides on the store's counter. Somewhere I even have a picture of myself, at the tender age of nine months, with the troll.

About six months ago, I was playing the Blood on the Altar mythos pack, and noticed, on the Osborn's General Store card, a very familiar troll! I was intrigued, and decided to find out more about the artist, one Mark Molnar. He is a self-described illustrator and concept artist based out of Budapest, and does excellent work in both fields. I emailed him to find out if the troll was an intentional reference, and received a prompt response-

"Yes, it was absolutely intentional.
I used the Old Sautee store as my main reference for that illustration, as I felt it resembles perfectly, what a place like this should look like - or looked like in the '20s. (...) When I got the assignment for this card, I started to do a research, this is what I do before starting any illustration. During my research I just stumbled into one photo about the store on Pinterest I think and I instantly felt that this is what I am looking for. After that I specifically searched more references about this actual store and used them as an inspiration / general direction to paint the picture for the card."

I'll actually do something similar with my miniatures- a lot of my inspiration comes from other sources. For example, my sig figure-

-is inspired by Tom Baker's outfit as the Fourth Doctor Who!

Later, a couple of weeks before Christmas, I had the opportunity to take the card to the Old Sautee Store itself. I showed it to the owner and his son. They were very interested in the card, and were able, at a glance, to identify other features of the store in the many details of the illustrations. Oddly enough, the son's daughter had just written a school report on Lovecraft's poetry. I sent the above picture to Mark Molnar, who replied-

"Oh wow, that's great to hear and awesome image with the troll!
Please let them know I am an absolute fan of their shop and I find the atmosphere they created really inspiring and unique."

It's been fascinating getting to see just how much goes into a single card- and I have hundreds! I wonder how many more stories like this there are, waiting to be told...

What news from the north, Riders of Rohan?

Despite my masses of infantry, I have never painted a single cavalry miniature! I recently decided to fix the gaping hole in my forces, and what better way to do this than with one of the Horse Lords of Rohan.

I opted to paint the horse somewhat like a Welsh pony- largely because of the imagery of the Rohirrim, and the example of Shadowfax in the book. Despite its apparent simplicity, the horse was a very difficult paint-job. It took quite a while to bring out the depth and smoothness of the muscles, especially in a difficult to paint color like white.

The rider, on the other hand, was straightforward. I wanted a simpler, less ornamented look than is seen in the movies, with plenty of earthy tones. On future miniatures I may replace the shields, as the raised detail is a bit high for my taste. I did not glue down the rider, as I wanted him to be able to dismount from his horse.

I have heard that GW is revitalizing their LotR line, from which this model comes, with a new set of rules, including a campaign system that sounds similar to Frostgrave. This is very interesting news, and I look forward to seeing what they do with it.

Greatest and Chieftest of all Calamities

There's been something missing for a while in my miniature collection, something no self-respecting fantasy nut can do without- that greatest of all legendary beasts, the dragon!

Perhaps my first proper introduction to this king of the bestiaries was, of course, in The Hobbit. I had the advantage to first read it in a Michael Hague illustrated edition, and the image of his Smaug, sitting atop a mountain of treasure, inspired this dragon's color scheme. The miniature is a Reaper Bones model by Julie Guthrie, called Narthrax.

I may do something a little more interesting with the plain base, but, for now, he's perched atop some lonely mountain peak, making a snack of any burglars who pass by.

He's a big beast, almost too big for this photo set-up! This is definitely the largest, most involved miniature I've ever painted, and not just due to the size. Each scale had to be individually painted in four different reds, followed by an over all dry-brushing of metallic gold- and that's not even counting the wings or horns.

Unlike his inspiration, he lacks a diamond-studded waistcoat- or any gaps in his armor- on a shelf full of meddlesome heroes, survivability trumps style.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon,

The Dwarves they heard the tramp of doom...