2015-01-23

Thranduil and a whole lot of other stuff!

Major update here, folks. Let us start with the things that actually matter(-s?):

I've started converting and sculpting Thranduil on his big moose/stag. It looks more like a moose, based on the antlers - seeing as I am a Swede, I am expected to know my mooses, it is not always that simple; not yet a fully fledged hunter... Not even close, but I like to fire guns! Who doesn't!?




Kept at it with this little ducker -Thranduil, the sexy blonde guy, that is... Fixed his orchish forehead and also dabbled a bit with the fabric. I actually hanged/hung* my new curtains over a chair to see how the thin and Elvish fabric would fold itself. It helped very little - basically made my poor brain hurt a bit - and I am back at my old ways, which of course is winging it and "do it as it sort of kinda looks like".

*) When you put a rope on a person to kill him, he is getting hanged, but the same man could also be pretty well hung - a little remmber-rule for us non-native English speakers.

These models are not finished, especially not the bases.

Mr FoB was very kind and gave me a box of Mirkwood Palace Guard which I wished for my big B-day! My B-day was highly enjoyable affair, by the way - not to brag or anything, just letting you know something about my personal llama-life.
    This box of Mirkwood Elves made me take a good and long and presumably hard look at the Palace Guard captain I sculpted nearly from scratch a while back, before this whole mess with no-job-and-no-place-to-live-in-except-a-so-called-office-which-it-turns-out-was-really-a-storage-unit-but-let's-not-dwell-on-that-matter-anymore. I must say that the size isn't as big of a problem as I had thought, but his big head is!


The sprues of the Mirkwood Palace Guard shown above. Horrendously expensive, just 10 models, but really nice models. I got them for free, which was the only way I'd ever allow them inside my home. Now, I want to expand them into two trays: With just these 10 + 1 homemade captain (that is scheduled for head-replacement surgery within the end of this winter) and a maximum of 2 fillers**, I still lack one model... I'll have to either make some serious converting or sculpt my own. Now, when I have the original models in front of me, it should be easier...

**) My own, very personal rules for fillers.


I intend to expand and change my Wood Elf Edheldu themed army into a modular army that can work as either Mirkwood or Lorien, and the whole Edheldu idea will be scrapped. I'll keep the good parts, though.


My Arnor-project is not forgotten. Here is a command that I got for 45 SEK (good price!) that one day will be integrated in the now very slim "army". Also, I would very much appreciate if someone could help me crowbar Dale into an Arnor army list. Geographically, it is not an intuitive thing. Culturally, either... Hm... The reasoning behind this is that I'd like to have the Dalings and Arnor as an army, but I do not want micro-armies, with just four or five entries. Perhaps some sort of "Kingdoms of Old United" or some hay-straw argument.


 It would be fun to make a model based on golden Elrond... But not today or even this year.


Some personal stuff. When visiting a friend and also acting as a super-secret dealer, I stumbled upon this when we visited his friend. A Burberry cap! Devvo! We aren't allowed to have chavs in Sweden, for some reason... But apparently, we do have Burberry stuff.


When working in a small town far north of our sad capital Stockholm, I found this close to the bank I was going to pay a visit to (and give them a piece of my mind): Clit and Colour. It seems as not only Brazilian waxings are in fashion in northern Sweden, but also dying and other stuff - it is strange times to live in.


This Warhammer-dwarf was found in The Hobbit 3/III: The Battle of the Five Armies. If you know anyone that has made a sculpt out of this, please let me know - I'd like to make one myself. But his mount is sort of a deterrent, I much prefer the goat-things, rather than this WHFB-dwarf's boar...



This troll looks like an elderly man from Russia or rather Belorussia (White Russia, as we say here in Scandinavia). A sculpt based on these could work as a nice addition to the dark forces in Lord of the Rings as the fabled ogres (mentioned in the book!) or as a separate species, a mixture perhaps.

All these trolls couldn't be cave- or stone trolls now, could they? The sun is shining! I believe these are other types of trolls. Trolls that, to me, seems very friendly to DIY-sculpts! The only problem being their design is OtT and a bit childish. I did like them in the movie, but they still are mind-childs of Peter "OtT" Jackson. He just does that: Goes over the top, shouting: Tora - tora - tora!


Speaking of the movies, this one was unacceptable. I am tired of these bizzare torture-creatures, with their limbs removed and replaced with weapons. I know, the Angband-guys are a bad bunch of flutter-shutters, but still - why do the bad guys always have to be ugly and semi-stupid an treacherous and all that. I mean, of all the humans I have met, only the beautiful people have been really bad!


Couldn't stop me from getting this before it dissappears from the shelves. The price was discouraging, but not enough - also, the store owner has puppy eyes. But compared to what you could get...


Sprues for Galadhrim Knights for Lord of the Rings, in case someone wants to see them and googles it. They are also here to remind me to incorporate them somehow in this new, super big Woodland Elf-project... The problem is the paint scheme. I love gold, but the base of this combined and modular army is boring woodland browns and greens and black and a bit of blue...




The Haradrim boss will be assembled within end of summer 2015. Expect pictures of ALL the finished armies. I have managed to get a lot done when it comes to coherency of the different armies.


All said and told, this stupid troll with his super stupid Master Blaster-guys on top, could still be a viable DIY-project, since GW seems indifferent to the Hobbit/LotR-line. Not unexpected, but still a bit boring - but on the other hand, with the prices... I mean, come on, two Thai hookers for five nights AND all you can eat at Pradong Prawn Palace Bungalow!?

Lastly, I can happily inform that I have finished the base of my Dwarf army, and the only one not in the gang yet is the Loremaster.
    That is all for this Friday, now it is time for a hamburger or two. One down, one to go (sculpting, that is):



6 kommentarer:

  1. Your sense of humour is as great as your artistic skills - and you´re a top notch artist! Thanks for sharing both! (only one disagreement, I didn´t find Stockholm sad... Gamal Stan is a real gem!) Cheers, ha det så kul! :D

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. Well, you're right, Söder is quite nice... and Gamla Stan as well. It's just the "banlieus" and the spill-over via the blue line (subway) that is depressing. Gott att höra lite svenska, mannen ;) And thanks for the kind words!

      Radera
  2. Very funny post! I'm very disappointed with GW's support for The Hobbit but I remember reading somewhere that they didn't have the licence to do Battle of the Five armies figures in 28mm...

    SvaraRadera
    Svar
    1. Aha, that makes sense then! BoFA (yes, we all love and use acronyms in WG*) might have been something that perhaps Mithril.ie has lone rights to.

      *) WarGaming.

      Radera
  3. Well done with Thranduil. The resculpting of the forehead (or forrid as the Swedish-English dictionary said when I was in school) does a lot. Maybe you should think about the mount as a fantasy elk? I recently began understanding that moose is what we call "älg" while an elk looks like a mix between a moose and a reindeer/deer. Don't know what they are called in Swedish or even if I've gotten this right.

    It would be weird if Mithril miniatures got the rights to New Line's version of BoFA since as far as I understand they have gotten their rights from Tolkien's sons crew. As you probably know Tolkien sold the rights to the movies way back so those rights are completely separated from Tolkien's son.

    And your blog is one of those few that I literally laugh out loud reading

    SvaraRadera
  4. Forrid, hehe, yes, I thought of typing that but omitted it since I thought that no-one would recognize it.

    This whole business with elks and mooses is intriguing and I intend to look into the matter, thank you for pointing it out mr FoB. By the way, you got yourself another shout-out, as it were... about the Pelargir Vets.

    When it comes to BoFA, you are of course correct... Fänks for finding the blog amusing :D

    SvaraRadera