Warg Riders - Lord of the Rings

 I have slowly been building up my Orc army using both the old Harlequin line and Games Workshop. Our local club has started a monthly Age of Magic night and I hope to be able to throw together a respectable Orc warband. I hired the services of a local painter to help with the backlog and he rapidly completed 15 Warg Riders. Three are metal and the other 12 plastic, all from Games Workshop.

The three in front are the old metal figures.

 

SAGA - Dark Age Archers

 A second entry into the AHPC this week. Early last summer, I received some Dark Age Gripping Beast plastic miniatures, in a zip locked baggie as part of a purchase. I finally  got around to painting a Unit of Levy Archers.

In addition to the archers, I completed another two elements of pack mules, pulled from the mountain of lead.

For my final entry is a LOTR figure, but I really don't know what it is. I was unable to match it up against the current Games Workshop website. On the AHPC XIII blog it was identified as one of the Twilight Ringwraiths. These are the pale versions of the Nazgûl, which appear to Frodo, when he places the Ring of Power on his finger during the Battle of Weathertop. 

Sauron and Mouth of Sauron

 These figures from the Games Workshop LOTR line have been hidden in the darkness for many years and I thought it was time they were painted and exposed to the light. They were another entry in the AHPC XIII.

Nazgul - Nine Rings for Mortal Men

 Would you believe three Nazgûl of the nine. Each year for the AHPC I summit at least one entry based upon the Lord of the Rings.  

I believe these figures came from the Attack on Weathertop package by Games Workshop and are close to 20 years old. I have collected a lot of LOTR dark forces, but I have been slow in getting them painted. 

Black Rider

Over the years I picked up a fair number of the LOTR figures by Games Workshop. To give them their due, Games Workshop produced a  beautiful line of figures, but too expensive for my blood.  I for one, would wait for 50% sales at local game stores or a lucky deal on e-Bay.

This Black Rider was a single loose figure I recently found mixed in a pile of minis I had stored away. I've been searching in town  for a package of 40mm or 50mm round magnetic bases by GF9. It's a product that seems to have been dropped by the wayside here in Montreal. So I mounted the figure on a 40mm x 40mm wooden base..

The figure was subject to a quick paint-job. Overall black, with gray dry brushed highlights and oiled steel for the sword.

Be it resolved…Jyn of Death

Last month I vowed to myself that I would paint more miniatures and write about it at least once a week. I now find myself standing on the brink of August without having contributed a single word to this Blog. I managed to keep the first promise to myself, having worked on a number of projects in no particular order. 

This week I started to read The Terror, The Shadow of the Guillotine: France 1792-1794 by Graeme Fife. In the text there is a discussion on the development of a killing machine and the Halifax Gibbet. 

"The Halifax Gibbet Law condemned anyone who stole goods above the value of 13 and 1/2 pence in the liberty of Halifax to be beheaded on the gibbet on a  market day on a hill outside of town. " It ceased operation in 1650.

"At Halifax, the Law so sharpe doth deale,
That whoso more than thirteen pence doth steale,
They have a jyn [engine] that wondrous quicke and well
Sends Thieves all headless unto Heav'n or Hell".

                                    

                                          John Taylor, Works (1630)

What does this have to do with my Blog?

I may live in Montreal, but I am from Halifax, Nova Scotia (not the original Halifax of the above tale) and it reminded me that I had my own Engine of Death and Destruction requiring a paint job. 

Games Workshop Trebuchet Cataput Mounted on 60mm x 80mm Base

The model is a Games Workshop piece I picked up in a delete bin a few years ago and it came with a few goblins to act as crew. I plan to add this to my Undead HOTT (15mm on 60mm Bases) Army, of which I have  blogged about in previous posts. My next step is to obtain a crew. I will be placing an order to Irregular Miniatures for some skeleton artillery crew for this purpose.

I really like how the heavy counterweight stone has a face craved into it. With a brown wash I tried to bring out the craved features including the sunk-in eyes, the lower lip and the fangs. I think it looks like it was craved with some Goblin War God in mind.