Sorry I'm late with my miniatures, partly due to some days with my grandchildren, and the hot weather, and, to be honest, just not painting. Well, here are Sharkey and Worm finally painted:

No worries at all, the hot weather hasn't had me wanting to sit inside and paint much lately! Great job on those two, I like the tones on Sharkey looks really clean too.

I have updated the main post, August is now open for entries.

For me it's going to be some more work on the Rohan tower then I might find a small hero out to paint. I have also been distracted by 40K recently with the new Indomitus box so something easy to get back into the swing of things will be ideal.

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Thank you for your kind reply, Mr Gimli.

I like your Rohan watchtower a lot. It has a very realistic look, and the fine structure of the wood remembers me of a kind of fine pattern. I don't think the logs have to be more coloured than they are, but of course, its your Tower and your decision.

Maybe you could use some inks, either ready made one like these from Army Painter (Soft Tone perhaps) or self made ones (citadel colour plus Lahmian Medium). I still have a rest of the old chestnut ink, which gives a nice reddish tint to base colours.

And your idea to use just a single miniature for the August challenge is quite reasonable. I will do so and just paint Azog as foot model. Picture will be posted soon.

Now here ist the picture of my unpainted Azog, a little bit paler than the painted model, but not much ...

Azog, very cool model indeed.

I am going to be painting a random royal guard model to go with my Rohan, nothing too exciting!

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Completed version

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Great work, Mr Gimli! It's a very dynamic miniature now. I like the neat and rich decorated impression of the shield and armour together with the rough ground on the base. It's the paradox between the priviledged life at the royal court and the need for bloody fighting.

My Azog has been finished this evening. Pictures will come tomorrow.

Well, finally, here ist my Azog with paint:







He was done in three evenings of painting, so with more time the results maybe had benn better, but he is o.k. for me.

Excellent, that's impressive for three evenings! I think that you have nailed the pale tone for the skin too.

I will update the main post if anyone is up for a September entry!

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Here is my entry for the September challenge: an old metal Ent which I recently got from ebay (one arm missing and two branches protruding from his back too, but I had them as spare parts in a drawer at home).

Great, the metal ent has a lot of character to it I'm sure you will do a grand job.

This month I am going to force myself to actually paint some warrior models (heroes are fun so it is hard!)



Thinking of doing a Gondor force as my latest project so these rangers would make a good start.

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Hi Mr Gimli,

I'm glad to be not alone in this month's challenge. I hope we will be more participants in the coming months, as holidays are over and indoor acitivities will became more attractive ...

It's a good number of warriors in your challenge project, with enough variety of positions, so that painting will stay interesting. I like the rangers miniatures, they are very realistically sculpted und will make a great group when finished.

Some years ago I made a small conversion to some of my rangers by swapping spears and swords between WoMT (giving spears) and RoMT (giving the swords). It was quite easy to do, the results werde o.k., and I had not to sacrifice models in this process.

Thanks they are nice miniatures, I will try your conversion tip on the next batch to add some variation.

Colour wise I am going to try and vary them slightly from the traditional scheme by adding in some dark teal for the leather tops (jerkins?) will see how it turns out. The aim is to tie them in with some WOMT into a sort of river patrol force so thought it would make a nice transition between the green of the ranger Cloaks and the black of the warriors. Hopefully it will work!

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Great idea, Mr Gimli! I'm looking forward to the results after painting. Maybe you could show us then a picture of your new rangers together with some WoMT, so we can compare?

Some time ago I have read a book about a modern reconstruction of a late Roman river boat type (Lusoria). It was used für border patrols and in the defence against intruders. The rows were manned by soldiers, and by using the boats they could move very quickly to where they were needed. This military method did help Rome to last a little longer and preserve its wide spreaded empire.

(And lastly: thank you for the word "jerkin", it was new to me. I looked it up in my dictionary. Quite fitting for the rangers!)

Today I finally finished my Ent, 4 days late. It tried to tell a little story by dividing the base into a green part, from where he is coming, and a dark part with a stump, where Isengart had been cutting trees. He ist quite angry. In the last picture I build a little makeshift diorama consisting of the Ent, a small hill and an (Isengart-) Orc.

That is very interesting I will have to attempt building my own boats for them at some point! I think jerkin is one of those words I've picked up from various wargaming - Entertaining but educational too.

I have finished one ranger, the others are nearly done but the highlights are very messy so I will hold off showing them just yet. Faramir and Damrod are in progress too.

Quick picture of the first ranger:



Hopefully will finish the rest in the next week or so.

Awesome job on the ent! The base adds a lot I think. That is certainly one brave Orc as well.

I will update the main post for October. With Halloween coming up a spooky entry might be in order?

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Hi Mr Gimli,

our ranger is a really good-looking guy. Excellent shading, and the combination of green and blue is very fitting for the maritime impression he makes. I'm looking forward to see a picture of the whole group.

Some months ago I built three boats from cardboard. Each has enough space inside for 8 figures. If you are interested, I can post some pictures here in the forum together with some instructions for building.

A spooky challenge is a great idea! I will look in my boxes of unpainted models (much too many of these) for some fitting miniatures.

Thank you very much I am glad my colour idea wasn't too crazy

That would be great if you could share the pictures so I can take inspiration from them.

For this month I am going to attempt building a barrow. I already have the materials and it should some in handy when it comes to the new Quest of the Ringbearer book.

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I like how the blue colour on the ranger matches the picture of Frodo from the Quest of the Ringbearer book he is standing on. Perhaps a reflection of the Light of Earendil!

Haha I didnt even notice that!

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