Deadzone: Enforcer Engineer Conversion

Been a few days, but I have still been playing with ideas and working on a couple conversions of my Enforcers. First up today will be my Enforcer Engineer.

Mantic's base Engineer is a kneeling pose and since I had 2 of these guys, I really wanted to individualize them. To do that I decided to convert the Engineer to a standing pose as that would be the most dramatic change from the original sculpt. Looking at my model options I chose to actually swap the standing/kneeling poses between an Engineer and a Missile Launcher Enforcer. Here are the results of my Engineering endeavor.

First we have from back and side shots. Overall I am very happy with his look. A little greenstuff at the waste to blend the pieces together and all was well. I did have to hot water the guy to alter the stance so he wasn't leaning sideways, but that may have been due to my angle of cut on the legs. In any case the stance looks good now.

One thing taking pictures of a model does for you though is show you all the bad flash you missed in cleaning. I guess I still have some to clean off this guy.

Here is a Engineering conference with the new stance and original pose. What do you all think they are discussing?

And Finally, a standing shot with the original Missile Launcher Enforcer for a height comparison. Overall I think I have the height pretty well nailed here considering I am not a professional converted or artist.

Looking forward to your comments and criticisms.

Red Dragon(Final) - Ent

Yeah.

I was able to find magnetic paint and so was able to finish my display base for my Red Dragon Entry. Basically it is some ornate wood rounds that I glued and nailed together. After sanding them smooth and then applying a magnetic paint primer(Basically it is paint with iron particles included) I was able to complete the black top coat for a finished look. So I am now officially ready for the 2nd annual Gathering in the Desert.

Red Dragon(Part 4) Base Completed

Oh my heck. I received a pile of comments on multiple sites for this model and I want to say Thank You to everyone who gave me suggestions and comments. Your input was greatly appreciated.

As I received such an outpouring of comments, I felt it necessary to use their recommendations and expand on the basing that I had done. I wasn't fully happy with the base previously, but with suggestions of really adding material to represent the crowded Fangorn Forest floor, I felt the need to add some additional work onto the model. I think it really does help make the model stand out even more. So again. Thanks for the comments!

Above is the final model as a complete picture. I felt close-ups of the base alone wouldn't put the entire model in the right perspective. I also included shots of the front and back of the model's base to show the dense forest growth and the narrow paths that I envision to be part of traveling through Fangorn Forest.


So. As a final update prior to my display base being completed (Hopefully before next Friday) I hope to get your final thoughts on my entry and what you all think my chances are if this was entered into a GT painting competition. I know its always an unknown on who will enter, but in general what are the thoughts?

Red Dragon(Part 3)

Well, it has been another two days and I have gotten a lot done. Even considering being sick most of that time. Well I did my final dry brush coat using Americana Khaki Tan paint. This gave a great final contrasting color for the edges of the tree bark.

I also wanted to get the eyes done. This was completed using a slight dab of Red with a highlight of thinned Yellow paint. This allowed the red to show through and not be over powered by the yellow color. See the close-up of the face below.


So the next step was to paint the 'bad' bark areas. This was done using a base coat of thinned Ceramcoat Charcoal with 2 highlights. The first was a dry brushing of Apple Barrel Pewter Grey and then a final highlight of a 50/50 mix of the Pewter Grey and White. This final highlight was designed to just grab the highest points of the bark area to gain a bit more definition in the contours.

I also added a 50/50 mix of Ceramcoat Green with Americana Lemon Yellow to get a Lichen/Moss color that was applied to various locations of the Ent model. I think this goes to highlight him better and lends more credence to the 'tree' look and feel.

Last I wanted to complete the base. So far I just have grass added after multiple coats of various shades of Browns. I will probably add some slate rock and give that a little highlight colors as well as I feel the base is still a little bare imho.

Here are some additional final close-ups of the leaves and bark that I painted. I think these look great and hope that the extra effort helps in the upcoming painting contest. As this will be my first ever entry into a painting competition, I think I have done a solid first time job.



So again, I ask for your thoughts on the painting and modeling of the Ent. I am very happy with the model, while I know many have expressed dislike over this model, I found it to be fun to model. In fact, I wouldn't mind picking up another model, which given the extra parts would allow me to create it plus have extra limbs for when the plastic Ents are released in the coming months.

Not exactly a 'Red Dragon'

That's right. It's not exactly a 'Red Dragon' but it IS my Red Dragon entry. Or hopefully will be! Basically, I am getting a very late start on this, but am optimistic that I will be able to rise to the task and finish the work on my Red Dragon entry prior to the GitD event.

As this is my first attempt at a painting competition, I wanted something that wouldn't 'kill' me in my effort of painting and getting the right texture and colors. Additionally, I have done in my opinion some great stuff for terrain, and Ents are almost terrain.

So far I have completed the assembly, greenstuff and base. He IS NOT coming off that base either as I have pinned and greenstuffed him to it. He is very secure. I think I will be going with a color set that is more in the darker shades of brown and am planning to use Woodland Scenics material for foliage.

Hopefully this all come out looking good as I would really like to have a solid showing in the competition, although, having seen some of the models that will be in it the competition as well, I am probably dreaming!

Here is a final close-up of the Ent. Next update should be primed and hopefully base coated as well. Fingers Crossed.

Fiefdoms Update - Ready for GitD

Gathering in the Desert, or GitD, is the first tournament circuit event for Lord of the Rings this year. This is a premier event drawing players literally from across the country. I have the honor to get to play in this tournament and pit my skills against the best players of the last few years in Lord of the Rings.

As such, I wanted to bring a beautifully painted army to compete against these experts and as last year I played a Grey Company army, I wanted something different this go around. Over the last few months those of you familiar with my blog has seen my Dol Amroth army grow. In November I played them(Granted a smaller force) in the primer event, and have since been able to play them a few additional times against local friends. I hope this will be a force that will provide fun and strategy to my games in the GitD tournament.

Above is a full army shot off my Fiefdoms army complete with their display case. I had fun building my display as this was my first attempt and modeling rocks from foam. I think I did an adequate job and the painting came out much better than I expected. I decided to design my display board off of a charge of the Dol Amroth knights through a valley into the open battle field. I modeled the clifftops to hold my Rangers of Gondor and then designed a charging layout which has Imrahil on horseback as the lead of the charge.

Some items of note is the display board grass, which was modelled off my actual models to make it look as if the grass on the models is actually part of the display, providing a more seamless design to the overall layout.

Here in my closeup of Imrahil you get an idea of the grass effect on the display board. Also you get a sense of the scope of the army with the additional knights behind Imrahil charging forward.

Here is another shot of the army from the side. It gives a bit of a closer view of the gorge that the army seems to be erupting from. Also you get additional ideas of how the grass on the model bases and display board flow together to provide a full battlefield.

Above the battlefield you get a glimpse of the Rangers of Morthond Vale, which act as my advance scouts, rangers and archery support. With their solid fight values of 4 and their ability to shoot with a 3+ I look toward them to quell many a charge from my enemies during the tournament.

Last through the gorge are my secret weapon. The elite Axemen of Lossarnach. These mighty warriors are great as they provide needed spear support for my Knights, but also can move forward and battle side by side with the knights bringing their axes into the fray as mighty 2-handed weapons.

Watch for a future update at the end of the month to detail my exploits during the tournament! If you are planning to attend I would love to hear what you are bringing, additionally, I look forward to comments and criticisms, so please let me know what you think of my army.

Dol Amroth for Gondor!

Dol Amroth for Gondor! This is the call of the mighty Swan Knights as they charge forward to battle the ever pressing hordes of Mordor. Led by their mighty prince, Imrahil, they have unmatched skill, instinct and courage.After last year's first annual Gathering in the Desert, I decided that I wanted to see an army brought to the table that I had never seen before. My choices were still pretty plentiful, including the Army of the Dead on the good side, and the new Black Numenorians on the evil side. With the release of the Mordor supplement, I was sorely tempted to go evil, but I couldn't keep the calling of the free peoples of Middle Earth from my mind. As such I decided I wanted to field either the Army of the Dead or a fully Fiefdoms army. I wanted to have ONLY models of that line in my list so I had to think how best to outfit my army to compensate for areas of concern. In the end, I decided that the Fiefdoms held the better overall list for my next GT army. (That isn't to say that we won't see me go crazy and play the Army of the Dead in 2010!)


In creating my army, I felt it best to throw caution to the wind and field the mighty Imrahil as my leader. I could have chosen a lesser hero, or even a standard captain, but felt it may be helpful to have Imrahil with his additional might and fighting score. Not to mention his amazing banner like affect on Dol Amroth troops! Additionally, I wanted to use mounted units this tournament and so chose to also mount Imrahil on his steed! Here are some shots of my finished model.

Along with Imrahil, I gave him a large phalanx (seven in all) of mounted Knights of Dol Amroth, or MKoDA for short. With the MKoDA taking a large portion of my army list points I had to think of how best to further outfit my army for the long haul of playing in the GT this year. To give an idea of the MKoDA details, here is a close-up shot of one of the riders. There is a group shot of the entire unit with Imrahil at the top of this post!

As mounted troops cannot always be the only units in an army, strong foot models are needed to help shore up the lines of battle. I chose to field a large contingent of Knights of Dol Amroth on foot, or KoDA for short, for this purpose. The KoDA have a solid Defense and also a great fight skill which will enable them to win most fights that are 1-on-1. Here are some pictures of my finished KoDA.

One of the failings of the Fiefdoms list is spear support. Don't get me wrong, they have models, but they are not cheap and the models they do have lack the superior defense that the KoDA have. As such I felt it best to mix my support models and chose to run eight Men-at-arms of Dol Amroth and four Axemen of Lossarnach. The Men-at-arms have the benefit of pikes allowing them to double support which can be helpful in tight circumstances and also gain the banner effect benefit from Imrahil. The Axemen don't get the benefit of the banner, but they get the duel role of playing spear support and also getting to wield a 2-handed weapon if needed. This is a huge help when I have the opportunity to mass attack stronger enemies where I can mix and match my combating models. Here is the pictures of both the Men-at-arms and the Axemen. If you notice, I deviated from the standard white sash colors and chose a blue consistent with my knights to help tie them into the rest of my models colors.

Last for my army is bows. Having played last GT with a Grey Company army list I know the virtues of the bow and additionally the benefits of the Rangers of Gondor over Gondor warriors with bows. The higher fight and better shooting help greatly making their lower defense of 4 easier to swallow. As my rangers are meant to be part of my Dol Amroth army I have painted them also in blues, with grey cloaks. This helps them fit in nicely with the Dol Amroth knights. The color scheme was inspired by the rangers of the Morthond Vale.

One thing to note on the details is that I have decided to string all the bows. I think this adds significantly to the design and style and helps truly set apart these rangers other bow armed models I have fielded in the past.

So,what do you all think of these models? This army was the fulfillment of about two months of effort in assembling and painting the models. C&C is always welcomed! Let me know what you think and also, if you are planning to attend GitD, what army lists are you bringing?

Fiefdoms Update (Part 2)

Well I decided for the sake of my sanity, plus not really being sure I liked the ranger models, that I would use some of my Ranger of Middle Earth as Ranger of Gondor. This saved me time as they were already painted so I was able to focus instead on my Dol Amroth models.

Overall I think my converted figures turned out well. My Captain has a very dynamic pose as if sending a challenge, or maybe issuing the command to start a charge. In any case, his paint job turned out well, and I am happy with him.


My other converted figure was the Banner Carrier for Dol Amroth. I chose to use a Men-at-arms model. First because I didn't want to give up a Knight, and second, because the pike it comes with screams to be made into a banner.


I also completed all the work on my Men-at-arms models and my Knights on foot. This included finishing the paint jobs and completing all the bases to fit my base scheme for my army.


I also finished the bases for my mounted knights, but I neglected to take new pictures of them. Maybe I will get those done when I work on their display for the GiTD GT in February. Till then, here is the final pictures of my completed 350pt Primer army.

Fiefdoms Update

Well, It has been an amazing month and a half since my last post. :( I apologize for this greatly, as I really have no valid reason for this. Just life.

Anyway, I have the upcoming 350pt LotR game on November 1st in AZ and need to seriously update my list for my Dol Amroth army. To that end I have been working on first, a new 350 point list for use in the games on November 1st, and then an updated list of 600 points that will likely become my GT army for the upcoming Gathering in the Desert in February next year.

For details on either of these great LotR events, I would recommend taking a trip over to www.adeptusarizona.com for information and the option to sign-up.

So, for a 350 point list I am thinking of dropping Imrahil and instead adding a Knight Captain and a Banner. Well I don't have either of these models, and funds are a bit on the low end so I decided to convert the models using what I did have(an extra Men-at-arms, and even an extra Imrahil on foot> As I have Imrahil normally I knew I needed to make some changes to the model to make it clear that they are different models.

Here is the primed Knight of Dol Amroth Captain.


As you can see. It is based on the Imrahip foot model. I have removed Imrahil's head and added a Knight of Dol Amroth head in its place. Additionally I have filed down the additional Shield detail to leave only the flat boat instead of the boat and swan. Last I partially repositioned the arm, hand and sword to indicate a more pointing with the sword pose.

I admin that the conversion of Imrahil to a simple captain was a bit drastic. My other conversion isn't nearly as crazy. For my other converted model I took a Dol Amroth Men-at-arms and chnaged the pike position. This will now act as the banner pole. Additionally I repositioned his head so he was no longer looking to the side but more head on.

Here is the newly converted primed model:




I also picked up a few odds and ends for Gondor Rangers. First were 3 citadel guards and the other 4 are actual Faramir's rangers. I thought they would all work well as Gondor Rangers for my Fiefdoms list. What do you all think?







Last I figured I would give a group shot of my 8 Dol Amroth Men-at-arms. These are hopefully what I need to provide the extra backing for my Knights to hold their lines against any enemies they come up against.





I am looking to use this as the base of my 600 point list and look at adding Imrahil and mounted knights for the GitD GT. I look forward to fielding this new army. Stay tuned for more updated pictures as I work to get these models all painted prior to the 350 point Tournament game.