#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town and the final fellowship

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town and Moria terrain. I previously shared this WiP pic.

But failed to share a close-up of the 3 remaining members of the Fellowship - Boromir, Pippin and Merry.

I also had this second throne of Goblin King. I wanted to paint it differently to the other one, with a Blessed Verdigris 🗽and bronze finish to the chair. So it was painted AP Hydra Turquoise, then I think I did another turquoise highlight. Then it was drybrushed. This was a bronze mix I'd created years ago but had fallen out of fashion using.

I don't know why. It doesn't have the red base colour of Sycorax Bronze, is more yellow, I rather like it. Then, following a tutorial on YouTube there was a drybrush of black.

It's a different way of doing my beloved metallic weathering technique. Can't have too many ways of doing something.

The Goblin Town terrain platforms on the cork board.

I then mixed a load of Burnt Umber art acrylic with equal parts wood glue and PVA. I then poured sand into the mix to create very sticky brown texture paint. Two small yoghurt pots wort to cover the board. I then added some larger stones in groups. On top of this Matt Black spray around the edges and anywhere the unpainted stones were giving a nice varied effect.

I mean the platforms are far too garish in comparison. That green effect stands out way too much. I'd though it would look like mouldy wood but I think I made a mistake doing too many individual planks. It works on the bottom of the ramps where it's 3 planks that might be exposed more to damp. Some of the whole individual planks in green just stand out in a weird way. Nevermind.

Anyway, highlights on the board next. All the stones need to be grey and I need to splash on some bonewhite to replicate the bone chips on my Moria and Goblin bases. Some other bits left to finish and then I can get all the TO DONE! pics TO DONE!

#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town - Town and Moria terrain

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town... err town. Liam had passed on these pieces for my birthday, I think there'd been some collusion with Otty on this. The two big platforms had been glued together but I could see from Garfy's showcase at Tale of Painters, having them separate was more versatile. So I split them, primed them Red Oxide and then then did a bit of black overspray to get some variety/darkness into the finish.

I probably made this ten times more difficult for myself in how I approached this. A heavy drybrush of VGC Leather Brown.

Then Charred Brown on some of the planks for variety.

I added a strong tone wash on this test piece and then Skeleton Bone drybrush for highlights and I could have almost left it here. But obviously I didn't.

With all the pieces shaded I tried adding some mouldy green planks in, which I thought looked cool.

Then the bone drybrush made them much too light. I think I ended up going back in with a Leather Brown drybrush in places to tone it down a bit.

Meanwhile, I sponged/stippled on some black art acrylic on my Moria pillars to add a bit of texture.

I did the same for Balin's sarcophagus, the stonework on the trapdoors and Leather Brown on the spare scribe and weapon piles.

Lots more was done on the other pieces and the last of the Fellowship.

I then went through the interminable process of highlight all the bones and skulls on the platforms. Mot forgetting all those bits attached to the poles. I added various stains on the wood too, but they don't really show up. Then I varnished the whole thing. I've run out of Army painter Anti-Shine [I don't even think they call it that anymore]. I've been using Miniature Paints Matt Varnish with mixed results. It's been more of a satin finish on figures and definitely was more 'glossy' than matt on the wood. On my Goblins it had even started to leave an almost frosty look on the bases in the recesses. This was something that has evolved over time, it was definitely not as bad when I painted it on or the next day or so. Anyway, with these slightly shiny wooden planks I tried fixing it with my big bottle of Winsor & Newton Matt Varnish. I tried it alongside a bottle of Craft Acrylic Matt Varnish. The consistencies were wildly different, with the W&N varnish being thin and transparent, while the craft acrylic was milky coloured and slightly thicker than normal paint. Testing it on the underside they both made the paint very matt, with the Craft Acrylic making the paintwork just a tad lighter looking [as far as I could tell]. So I went with W&N across the whole surface. To be fair these will have models moving over them so additional protection is worth it. Now I just need to get back to a varnish I am confident in and happy with.

That corkboard will make a display board for or Midweek MESBG tournament. So, that's another thing to do alongside the remaining bits of terrain. And another Great Big Wooden 'BIG BUILD' Stamps of Approval.

Not a battle report - MESBG Orcs Vs Orcs

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PlayingWarhammer with a game of new MESBG. I think this is Azog's Legion versus Azog's Hunters with the main difference being the hunter's ridiculous movement value of 8". Meaning Otty had a huge manoeuvrability advantage. Liam had originally looked at Bolg as the hero but saw the new rules for the Troll Brute, so we switched things up. 

As I have a huge issue with matched play games having missions with scoring points for taking a banner, when not all armies can take banners - I was adamant we take one, because we could. This caused a lot of debate how wrong we were but I think 50% of the missions score this way. Obviously we rolled a mission that didn't, but that doesn't stop us using the re-roll to duels within 3" benefit.

Liam did most of the movement, tactics and rolling in the early turns. Trying to find a way to make Otty's movement redundant. Unfortunately his dice rolling was appalling and he couldn't manage above a three. 

Eventually he handed the dice to me as I've had a run of 'getting exactly what we need recently' but hilariously I was also getting ones and twos! 😂 The Troll Brute had some fun trying to trample through the Hunters.

About halfway through the game we realised we'd not remembered to use the Banner's reroll ability afterall! To make matters even worse we discovered the Legion has a faction rule that means we get can get a Banner reroll over the entire board each turn, or a couple of other benefits instead. This represents Azog's banner orders from The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. So we'd forgotten to use them for most of the game.

The Brute managed to get into some meaty combat with Lurtz eventually. Then Otty took the decision to fire with his archers into combat at the Troll Brute rider [not actually on the model]. Both hit, but both got 'in the way', so hit Lurtz!

He had one fate point left, a 4+ save and this was Otty's role!  😂 

Oh man, it was such a funny game. Once again MESBG delivering fun outcomes that make you laugh so hard. I don't know why this plays so hard with comedy moments. There's something about the game mechanic that makes so many dice roles pivotal and yet offers 50:50 chances that come as such a surprise when it doesn't pay off.

Whatever the reason we're going to keep on playing and having fun.

#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins - angry red

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins. There feels like so much to do at this stage. Not so much the sheer numbers of models. In fact the many goblins feel quite manageable. 

What is slightly overwhelming is the character models, like the King, the Scribe and Grinnah. Not to mention the King's throne and some pieces of Goblin Town terrain I also need to do. Because they're different it feels like a challenge to throw them in amongst what are a pretty uniform bunch of models.

Although, there is some variety with some weapons being bone, some stone axes and all the models that have angry mutated growths. There were quite a few times I had to subdivide the groups to make them easier to manage and not miss painting elements on all the figures.

I also went back in with the Heavy Red to make their growths more red and angry. 

It's a different vibe now. I may have lost that pasty albino look but I have recaptured my typical over-saturated mass off colour. They may be a more Warhammer style of painting than Middle Earth but I do like where they're going.

Once again I considered movement trays in an attempt to speed up my gaming but Otty isn't sure. At least that means I don't have to repaint them or buy new ones.

So, quick poll: I had intended the eyes to be black, with a gloss finish. But I can't decide if glossy red dot eyes work better. What do you think?

Meanwhile, Otty and I got all spruced up for his wife's birthday. He wanted us to look like we play toy soldiers in our Sunday best 😂

#MESBG Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins - Basecoats and moar Big Build and Base TO DONE!

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Goblin Town Goblins. There's now 50 of these, from the most basic gobbo to the King himself. You may recall there were 35 and goblins in a box of 36, well Otty found another 10 or 12 knocking around throw in the heroes and it is a lot to batch paint.

This is something of a test model. I took it a bit further on my attempt to recreate my Poxwalkers, although it wasn't quite the same. For some reason my new bottle of Vallejo Extra Opaque Heavy Red dilutes to a a terracotta colour, rather than the maroon I've come to expect from years of making angry red skin. But the purple has made it a little less noticeable. 

The King too has become a bit orangey in the process. Going to have to go some way to make the rest of the goblins match what I had in mind.

These 10 are the new ones Otty found, plus a captain and a few other pieces.

They were already primed, but I based them and added the red wash from an older bottle of Heavy Red that had enough to get the angry red I was after.

Another Great Big Wooden 'BIG BUILD' Stamp of Approval and a Great Big Wooden 'BIG BUILD BASE' Stamp of Approval.

#MESBG Middle Earth 3 Hunters and Fellowship - TO DONE!

Afternoon #Warhammer Community I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Middle Earth Strategy Battle Games 3 Hunters and Fellowship and I am super stoked having finished these. In particular I had no intention of attempting eyes on these. I just thought it was a complete lost cause. But I donned my magnifying glasses and did them all [except Gandalf, his brim cast too much shadow already].

I made the decision to add some flock to the 3 Hunters, alongside some of my tufts I found.

I think it adds so much, I'm really glad I did it. Overall they're still quite dark. I'm not sure why but I think I associate a lot more green with their colour scheme. But I kept referring to pictures and and dark greys, black and brown were much more common than green.

The cloaks are probably a bit too dark for their Elven cloaks but it makes them consistent with the hobbits too.

Legolas's orange fletching on the arrows might be controversial but Google it and I assure you they have something of an amber hue. It has a nice little link up with Gimli's beard too 😉

Such a great pose. I'm not sure about his eyes and teeth, but the stubble worked pretty well for an accident. It would have been nice to have him coming off a small mound of slate for height though.

Gimli too could have looked more impressive raised up a bit. His eyes are possibly the best executed though, even if it does look like he's got eyeliner. Meanwhile Legolas has some strange mark on his cheek I've failed to clean up. But I'm chuffed with putting the effort in to string his bow, even if it was ridiculously fiddly.

Gollum pretty much painted himself, but the hobbits were reasonably straight forward too.

They're backpacks were the only things I felt needed more effort.

I'd done them black but a bit of brown helped lift them off the already dark grey cloaks. The welts on Gollum's back came out really well too.

Some additional little tufts just added some extra 'bling' to the base.

I did Gollum's eyes blue and added some gloss varnish so they look glistening. Super happy with how he came out.

Frodo has the least successful eyes. But, potentially the smallest, so swings and roundabouts. I'm not totally convinced by 'Sting's' glow effect but I'm glad the browns are all distinct enough.

I think Sam might be the best executed, when it comes to still looking like Sean Astin. Close up the eyes work and it looks like the actor. Amazing considering just who rough the paintwork looks under a magnifying glass. And yet, it does look like him to me so I am super proud of this little guy.

Gandalf looks great, but I grudgingly acknowledged the guys calling him 'Gandalf the Black'. Yes his robes are very dark.

But at least that makes a nice contrast to his Gandalf the White version

And another bunch of Great Big Wooden Stamps of Approval.

And here they are with the Army of the Dead on one of Otty's boards.

I love these guys.

And the ghosts aren't half bad either.

And their new home in his display shelves, ready for when we might bring them forth to honour their oath.