Partizan set up

well, we made it safe and sound. James Morris has done a fantastic job on the Lonely mountain.

My figures are on the board and will be joined by many others tomorrow from other collections.

 The 'really useful boxes' certainly earned their name today.

The Armies march to Partizan

The last Dwarf base done just in time for the big weekend. It's the Other Partizan show this weekend and I'll be there with my armies. So if you fancy seeing a massive Hobbit battle...pop along.

The battle will be fought using the new Midguard rules by James Morris. It proves to be a great Sunday especially if you're a Tolkien fan.

Today I have collect everything together and pack it as best I can to stop any travel casualties. I have always painted my figures to play at home so have never magnetised them onto metal sheets.

 I'm going to rely on nonslip matting and bubble wrap to get them there...I'm planned for a few accidents by hopefully, touch wood, all will be okay. It's been a lot of last minute painting but I'm looking forward to it.

Most of these Dwarves are old sculpts from Nick Lund.

That Reaper figure jumped the painting que and made the last company to leave the Iron Hills.

A couple of last minute Bolg bodyguard bases. I had planned to do more but time caught up with me. At least all the important stuff is done, like Beorn and the Eagles.

A coat of gloss on weapon edges and armour helps to catch the eye on the metal work. Dwarves are master smiths after all, their armour and weapons would be of high quality.

 Come along on Sunday it would be nice to see you.

Finally the two meet, Bolg and bigger Beorn.

My old Beorn figure is dwarfed by the new addition. The new bear has a lot more presence to him and should look the part on Sunday.

Hobbit Production Line

Here is Beorn in his full fury. He has been given a Matt varnish that really helped. This proved even more effective once his mouth, eyes and nose was given a coat of gloss varnish. This brought him to life and gave him a sparkle in his eye.

I ended up putting more and more greenstuff on him until he was completely covered. It's good to have him covered in thick, shaggy fur as he looks more wild and rugged.

The Eagles are coming! Eagles and White wolves get their various layers of flock.

A lovely new Reaper miniatures Dwarf joins the latest group of Dwarves. Reaper make great 'hero' figures to adorn any warband. They can be quite large sculpts so it can be a risky business ordering them, this one is perfect though.

Beorn's base has to be 24cm wide for the game I'm playing, so two side bases were made. These bring the base up to the right measurement and allow for more bear carnage.

Beorn with his slobbering maw but cute adorable shiny eyes.

More goblin wreckage. Wargs too have not escaped the Bears fury and lie amongst the fallen. A few goblins still cling to life.

It was fun to sculpt great claw wounds in the orcs clothes and equipment. Everything has been torn and crushed to pieces.

Beorn's base with some Bodyguard of Bolg behind him. I'm not sure I'll have time to finish this big orcs before the weekend.

Bard of Lake town with his new fixed banner. This banner was a bit too tall for the storage box and the spearpoint snapped off, twice!. So using my flattened brush bristle technique, he's got a new much tougher one. The plastic used for brush bristles make them fantastic for super glue!

As Bard needs to be free to roam around, another replacement base was needed. Here is Bard with a fellow command stand. Bard is another Reaper Miniatures figure and is slightly bigger than most. This is fine as he is a hero and it suits his manly character.

More carnage, this poor Warg has been disemboweled. This is pretty grim but I did have fun sculpting it. Facing a giant werebear was never going to end well. Again, a coat of gloss helps bring it to life 

Another shot of the basing production line.

Bard of Esgaroth.

 The blue theme really helped to tie these militia type troops together. I tested the new banner tip and it comes below the storage box height, hopefully it won't get crushed again.

Dwarf King in the shield wall

A Dwarf king and his elite guard take to the field.

 Amongst the Eagle helms of the shield wall is the kings champion himself. Nothing must get to the king and the champions blue axe, will see that nothing does.

I could use this base for King Balin when he tries to retake Moria. A future project of mine.

The King points out floors in the enemies formation to the chief engineer.

The Dragon standard flies over head echoing the Kings mighty dragon helm.

This base has been created for the upcoming Hobbit battle, replacing Dain's base in the ranks. This allows Dain to roam freely as a character on the field.

 The figures are beautiful old sculpts from Asgard and Citadel. There has been a bit of tweaking on a couple of them, like the axe and the standard.

Creating Draugr

I have an idea of making a few stands of Draugr, the Viking dead. I have bought some nice Colin Pattern sculpts but thought I'd have a go at making some.

I have loads of Viking sprues left over from the Lake town project, these I mixed with some Oathmark undead sprues. I will add some greenstuff to these to make them a little more Viking.