Kirke's Lambs 15mm

kirkes regiment in Ireland 1690. I made the ground quite muddy and wet to reflect the conditions at the Boyne. 

This regiment also took part at the battle Sedgemoor during the Monmouth rebellion. The ground here too was wet and boggy, so having a muddy base is a must for this regiment.

The background book is from Jon Hodgson and is full of atmospheric backgrounds.

Painting this 15mm regiment was fun and very easy to do. After this painting test I'm still on the 15mm side of things for this era. Hopefully it will prove easier to get units painted and finished.

I had to buy two sets of flags from Pendrakon in 15mm. They only have one standard on the sheet for each regiment, so I had to do some research and tweak the second one slightly. I think this period of warfare always looks better with more standards fluttering in the breeze. So two is the bare minimum I think for my units. Luckily for me, the two standards are very similar in most regiments so creating two shouldn't cause a too much bother.

These little guys from Gripping Beast have enough variety in their poses to get the look I was going for.

The regiment starts it's march inland.

 "Fetch"

UPDATE: I thought I would try out this AK puddle solution on the bases.

At this tiny 15mm scale I found it best to apply the solution with a brush. It's super shiny and produces a good wet effect on the mud.

I got slightly carried away here but I applied a well placed tuft to balance things out.

I think the puddle solution works well and now the bases definitely look wet and boggy.

Cardolan Rangers

I've taken the time to just cover the arm joints with some cloak material. I think this looks a lot better now and certainly makes a visual difference.

It's easy to do and gives a much more natural look to the cloak. As this ranger is pulling back his bow to shoot, I've bent the plastic bow back. This creates a much better look for a bow under strain.

I also bought a couple of packs of rangers from North star from their Shadows deep range. There is a definite nod to LOTR with this range, as their shields have the star of Arnor on for one. This of course is perfect for my needs creating a Cardolan force. These smaller shields are perfect for rangers, who can't be weighed down by large, heavy war gear.

A very stoic ranger from North star in the background. He is quite tall compared to the Oathmark plastics, but this again is good for the Dunedain.

North star also produce a female ranger which fits in well.

Stoic ranger again, he's going to make a good captain I think.

A cowl extra on a soldier of Cardolan, just helps to add some variety to the Fireforge models.

I had another stab at doing chain mail and this is looking better. The putty wasn't so thick and I waited for it to cure for 15 minutes before starting.

I thought it would be nice to include a few rangers with bare heads to contrast against all the cloaks.

The star of Arnor.

Another view of the chain mail, definitely getting there with this new technique. At least it matches the plastic sculpting.

Here is another metal ranger sculpt from North star. This one scales much better with the Oathmark figures. It's good to have a couple of actual rangers in the mix. 

I do have some Citadel LOTR figures from the Eighties somewhere I need to dig out. I imagine they will be quite small these days compared to the more modern sculpts.

Rangers meet up to discuss their latest plans.

Some other chain mail , I must remember to cut out the areas of putty where the two colours connect in the packaging. This can lead to hard areas where the two strands of putty have already hardened together slightly.

 "For Cardolan!"

Armoured Black Troll

I saw some nice troll sculpts on eBay and thought I'd buy one. It was a nice surprise to find it was bigger than I had thought. I suppose being resin and not lead, it can be larger.
 

It was covered in the connecting resin as seen here. I had removed most of it before I thought to take a picture.

It all came out nicely and the quality of the miniature is really quite good. A large Mordor troll with stylised armour from the films.

I selected this troll because he had a crushed warrior under his foot. It's a nice touch and makes it a bit unusual. 

I think that due to the helmet band this is actually meant to be a soldier from Cardolan. GW uses this helmet band to mark out the forces of Cardolan from that of Gondor in their figure ranges. I've only just noticed it but I like it. I will put a couple of these helmet bands on my soldiers too as I like the idea.

I imagine this is meant to be one of the Witch king's trolls if that is a fallen Cardolan soldier.

I think there's a bit more character to these printable sculpts. Being designed on computer allows the designer to tweak things like weight and posture. It all ends up in a very realistic and natural looking pose, I'm completely sold on the product.

It's a good size even with these large 28mm Fireforge figures.

Nice detail. Although on closer inspection, I'll have to done a bit more fine clean up.

The Dunedain aren't phased by the site of an armoured troll and leap to the attack.

Arathorn's father was killed by a Hill troll, so better not rush in too quickly. A volley of ranger arrows might be called for first.

I just thought, I do hope that's not him crushed under foot.

This is the base that came with it. I'll be basing mine on the usual 60mm squares so it matches everything else.

I'm pleased with this mini and will probably buy another one after Christmas. I think printable minis are getting better and better.