Balin's expedition to Moria.

I've started on Balin's colony in Moria. Most of these are old 80's and 90's Nick Lund sculpts. I remember long ago, I didn't think much of these figures, but now with older eyes, I love them.

They have almost full length mail and an axe that could be taken for a mattock too. They have a lot of detail for someone who is covered in mail, for there are different types within the same suit. This is great as if painted in different colours, leads to a very fine looking warrior. Bronzes and golds can be mixed into the layers of armour producing a great veteran look.

 If a dwarf is covered in chain mail alone, you can bet it's the best that craftsmen can make.

Balin himself. As Balin sported a red hood in the Hobbit book, I have made it his chosen hue. I did think to make all of his followers bare the same colours, but it's the colour I have already used for Dain and his army.

So with this in mind, I have decided to give the colony lots of different fabric colours. This should help give the impression of a gathering of individuals rather than an organised army. Lots of blues and greens should create quite a ad-hoc look.

Nori and his book. Here he is keeping a track of gateways and passages too, as well as a diary of the events since entering the underground kingdom...I almost typed mine!

These old Grenadier figures have so must character now I look at them again. In the range there are two distinct sizes, there are large mailed warriors with huge axes. The other kind are slightly smaller in stature and armed with a variety of classic weapons. Spears, bows, hand axes and maces. The two types do go together well and it's nice to have the variety to play with.

This is a dwarf from Ral Partha. On ordering them I thought they would be bigger, but many were quite small...even for dwarves. This one is large enough to mix in with the Nick Lund sculpts. 

I like him because of his square helmet, again it's nice to have a real mix of armour styles in the party. This is a contrast to the army of Dain where the spangle helm look was used.

A smaller dwarf sculpts by Nick Lund.

I found a nice tip for painting dwarf beards was to use horse paint colours. This is just a bit of a cheat if you have an army to paint as its quick and easy. Chestnut colours make for a nice ginger type look.

I've ended up nick naming these large dwarf sculpts the 'long beards'. It suits them well and I think it will stick with me when gaming with them.

I had toyed with using this guy as Balin, but a kingly figure was used in stead. Balin was crowned in Moria and this figure made more sense.

Drums in the deep.

A long beard in mid strike.

There's a real nice feeling to these old veteran dwarfs, they look well travelled and sturdy.

Here is one of the smaller 'Lund' dwarves. These are fantastic figures too and there is loads of detail to pick out and paint.

A bad picture of Balin, but hopefully good enough to see his red coat. It was a challenge to not make him look like an angry Santa, so I kept the coat fur a like brown rather than white.

A tough long beard, this figure is one of my favourites.

By painting some of the mail bronze, the suit can be broken up. This looks good for veteran characters who have collected different armour from many campaigns.

The main dwarf himself, Balin. I don't know where the figure comes from although I think it's a Ral Partha one. I got it years ago when collecting for Dain's army.

Is this Durin's axe he's found...? It has runes on it so it could be.

A axes were given a wash of Vallejo's filter paint to give them a reflective blue hue. This makes them look like they have been heat treated to make them extra sturdy.

Nori deep in thought again.

I stuck these Ral Partha figures on MDF to make them a little taller. The original figures came on a slotta base, so they needed a bit of a lift.

This dwarf leader will go next to Balin, pointing out the way. Is he pointing out a cavern passage he remembers or a weakness in a battle line, it's going to be one of the two 

 I'm liking the blue effect on the blades, I didn't coat the axe with the effect, just the part near the edge. The cutting edge was given a line of Vallejo chrome paint to make it look sharp.

Balin in Moria.

 Balin has insisted on going back to Moria to reclaim it for his kinsfolk. I tried to talk him out of it, but his stubborn mind had already set like stone on the task. 

Together with a band of equally determined hard heads he set off yesterday. The selected companions, both young and old are all specialists in their own right, able to overcome everything the wilderness can throw at them. I'm looking forward to hearing of their adventures and visiting the great halls once they are lit and warm again. Just got to wait for the first raven to come in and then I can set off.

Repairs after a show.

The second big Midgard game was a great success but it wasn't without it's mishaps. There were a few breaks here and there and almost all of them were standards.

Having a resin standard is always going to be something to worry about. The bad thing about resin is it's very fragile and prone to snap. The good thing about resin is Super glue sticks it as strong, if not stronger than before.

The casualties of battle.

Another victim of the battle was this orc with his axe. Rather than try to stick another axe on, I thought it best to replace the whole hand and weapon. This way the surface area for the glue is much larger and the bond stronger. He's now been upgraded to a sword for his bravery fighting the bear.

This large metal standard was probably weakened in the car journey and popped off.

All fixed now and the standards are flying again.

 

Balin in Moria.

 

Autobots!

I can't believe my luck finding this tiny Lamborghini, it's a Micromachines toy and just perfect for what I need.

I saw it on eBay but didn't imagine for a moment it would be a  useful size. Being a collectors item, these little cars can be expensive, so I had to look around for a really cheap one. Well, I finally found one for a couple of pounds and bought it. When it turned up the low price made sense...it had three wheels. I booked him in to the workbench and soon he was as good as new, complete with a new wheel.

Such a cute little fella and very useable for the game. It didn't take long for me to find another bashed up toy and order it. Now I have the Alt modes for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, the Autobot lambo twins.

I've added some gizmos to the models to cover up some of the damage and make them look a little more futuristic. The figures of the characters are from a diecast collectors set. They were originally coated in a thick enamel paint that filled a lot of the models detail. I was glad to see that after I had stripped them, their detail was actually quite good and true to the cartoon.

It was tempting to leave this model yellow as it is Sunstreaker's colour, but does need a bit more tlc.
 It's good to paint the figure and his car mode at the same time so the colour matches seamlessly.

Side swipe is done, just needs his decal on the car.

He is so iconic of the original line up of Autobots, I'm really pleased to include him in the collection.

Volley gets an Alt mode too. I had two of these futuristic tanks from Micromachines and used the drills off one to add to the character model. Together with slight repaint with some extra colours added, the two look like the same machine.