Twoshedsfred forest and ruins

A little while back I contacted Fred and Emily about making me some woodland bases. Everyone needs a nice forest or two and I knew Fred was the one to ask.

I had originally wanted two large bases of woods with a clearing in the middle. However, after discussing it with Fred, he came up with a nice idea that was a lot more flexible. Smaller bases of three trees that could be put together to create different sizes of forest.

Here are the bases as they arrived, very nice indeed. They were a lot bigger than I had imagined which was an extra bonus.

The triangle bases work really well and can join together with others to create various sizes of woodland.

The spaces in-between the trees were made so I could put my 60mmx60mm figure bases in them. This was a nice touch and it allows for ease of play, without losing the dense forest feel.

Well, I have to say my Company of Silvan Elves were very much at home in there. They wouldn't leave in fact.

I love the foliage shadows from the sun, makes for a very realistic base.

As well as the wood, I also commissioned another couple of ruins, these will act as Dale again. I have enough now for quite a cityscape. These could also double as the interior of Moria for some Dwarf and Orc fighting.

Some very nice blue foam work going on with the steps

Here's a shot of the lot together, now I need to work out where I'm going to store it all. It did come in a very nice big box and that will be a good place to keep them in.

 

Byzantine Elves

I'm always on the look out for new Elfy infantry and saw a sprue of Fire Forge plastic Byzantines in eBay. So I bought a sprue and was very pleased I did. Two of the torsos have lovely scale mail which looks very Elven.

This figure reminds me of Elrond.

This dynamic character is the new captain of the third company.

I folded the cloak back so more scale can be seen, I don't want to cover it up if I can.

 Another sort of detailed armour but still very Elven. Another nice set if you are constructing Elves.

Elven Cloaks in Green Stuff

When making the Green stuff cloaks, I first wet the mat with water, this stops the putty from sticking.

I use the handle of the knife to roll the putty flat so I can cut out a basic pattern, as seen above. Don't forget to wet whatever you're using to roll with too.

The rough cloak shape is put into place and fitted around the neck.

This pointed tool is great for shaping and creating folds. I use this for the heavy lifting with the sculpting and forming the main shapes.

This soft clay tool is then used for the more subtle stuff. This one isn't really necessary but it can help to make for smoother folds.

I then do little touches like press the retractable pencil into the front to act as cloak clasps.

The left over putty is put to use on small details, like belt pouches and shield designs.

 

I used my homemade pin tool to do a detailed leaf cloak.

The new captain of the third Lindir company gets a leaf shield.

I put lots of folds in this musician's cloak as he is running, so I wanted something dynamic. This technique is done more with the fingers than the tools.

Hammer Head 2022

I've just got in from a very enjoyable trip to the  Hammer Head event. I only had a few things on my shopping list, brushes and paint. These were quickly found and squirreled away in my backpack.

Here are some of the highlights of the show, loads of great looking games with amazing terrain.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was meeting James Morris. James and I became friends through the Wargaming in Middle Earth Facebook page. I have followed his amazing painting and scenery making for some time, so it was really nice to say hello in the flesh.

James was show casing his new Dark age/ Fantasy game, Midgard, which looked fantastic. It was also nice to see his lovely painted armies in person too, many of which I was very familiar with through Facebook.