It's like an assembly line on par with the caverns of Isengard. I have to applaud the scale but even more to the planning. Even little things like the frame to do the base coating has been covered.
It does not seem that a single detail has been overlooked.

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Thanks for the comments!

@Sid, I’m planning on similar quality as with, say, the rangers featured in the first couple of campaign scenarios, i.e. basic colors, wash and 1-2 layers of highlights. The bases will be just dark yellow fine and coarse turf and an occasional grass tuft (and, as shown, the bases will be mostly done separately to speed the process).

@Sticky Fingersss, I definitely need to collect the project – the battle reports and key WIP stuff – into one site at some point in the future. For now, OR is a great platform to feature our stuff.

@Oldman, glad the cooling is helping someone somewhere! We are fast approaching having daily max only at about +6C or so… after that, it’s indoor work until April (good time for building Helm’s Deep itself and detail painting the basecoated figures).

@Gandlaf, given the sometimes daunting scale, I’ve had to invent all kinds of mass production aids. Those 28mm thick bits of lumber are perfect for foot soldiers attached on all four sides.

A quick update on the faulty Rohan commanders box - just heard back from the GW UK customer service, and they offered to send a replacement. Brilliant, very happy about that! Don't know yet if they send an entire package or just the missing Huntsman. I'll report once the parcel arrives.

Much apologizing - it's been again quite a while since my last update even though I promised to be more active. I'll begin first by confirming that GW did, indeed, send me a full Rohan commanders box as a replacement for the error in my existing box (two captains, no King's Huntsman). Kudos for them - I didn't even need to send anything back. Think what you may of their business, but at least their customer service excels.

Meanwhile, I had plan B and C to get a King's Huntsman by converting an extra figure of Hama (replace sword with a bow and add a large quiver), or by converting the Finecast banner bearer into a bowman. In the end, I decided to do both despite having the real deal now – here’s a pic of the converted figures:



Ex-Hama is on the left, with sword replaced by a Gripping Beast bow (in two parts, with a pin connecting the two halves through Hama’s hand). Hama got a tall quiver made with green stuff and the top of an orc quiver. Gripping Beast sword gave two hilts to be glued on the tops of empty scabbards on both figures. As said, the other converted King’s Huntsman is the Finecast Rohan banner bearer – a section of his banner pole became the quiver, and he also got a GB bow replacing a sword.

I made a number of horns from green stuff; here’s the Royal knight with hand slightly repositioned, holding a horn, as well as another with the banner stolen from the aforementioned Finecast banner bearer, now acting as a king’s huntsman:



Two companies’ worth of regular oathsworn militia got green stuff behind their helmets – and were thus promoted to the Royal Guard:



There’s a hornblower in that photo, too - though I was too lazy to convert him to actually be blowing his horn. Instead, it merely hangs by his side. The same deal with about 10 riders:



Finally, a handful of riders were robbed of their shields (or the central stub, anyways) converting them to outriders. Here are two examples:



Here’s a photo of the basecoating process, done outside during the last few warm autumn days:



As you can see, I did quite a number of movement trays, too, using my dwindling supply of Tamiya Dark Yellow spray cans, as well as a much cheaper can of Army Painter Dunkelgelb (although the color match to my yellow grass terrain is not as accurate as with Tamiya).

Almost all of the Rohan warriors and riders got a spray of Army Painter Angel Green on their backside – makes it faster to paint ‘em if they already got green cloaks:



Horses are still being cleaned and assembled:

Apart from the horses, the rest of the Rohan force is now (almost) ready for painting. Here’s a pic of the models on four transport trays, similar to the five you’ve seen earlier holding the Isengard force:



Tray 1:



On the first tray, you can see Théoden’s Guard Battlehost with Théoden, Gamling and Déorwine (Eorl the Young is used as a proxy) in a formation of four companies of Royal knights, and another formation of four companies of Royal knights with the banner bearer and hornblower you already saw in another photo. Also on the tray: Théodred’s knights formation (4 companies; regular rider figures + banner bearer and hornblower), Elfhelm’s riders (6 companies strong, with a son of Eorl acting as Elfhelm, plus a banner bearer and a hornblower), a separate Éored (3 companies strong with a captain), an outrider Éored (3 companies), plus on-foot models of Déorwine (Eorl the Young again), Gamling, Théoden (2 variants + the mindless Théoden from ukfreddybear), and Théodred.

Tray 2:



Plenty of models on foot. First, the formations of the Warriors of the Westfold Battlehost: Grimbold’s Helmingas (3 companies, including Grimbold, banner and a hornblower), two formations of oathsworn militia (3 companies each, including captain, banner bearer and a hornblower), and one formation of oathsworn bowmen (3 companies, with captain, banner and king’s huntsman). There are also a number of separate formations: Royal knights on foot (four companies, with two alternate poses of Hama, a banner and a hornblower), two archer formations (2 companies and 1 company, each with a captain, a banner and a king’s huntsman), and a mixed bunch of loose models that could make a single oathsworn militia company (even though a couple of the soldiers have bows). The three bare metal Royal knights on foot are the latest addition from Orc-Ward Battles (thanks JT!), and I haven’t had time to basecoat them just yet – hence the “almost ready” for final painting...

Tray 3:



The main force on tray 3 comes from the Riders of the Westfold Battlehost: Erkenbrand’s riders (6 companies, with banner + horn), and three Éoreds (3 companies each, all have captain + horn and one has a banner as well). In addition, there’s a larger outrider Éored with four companies. One surplus rider can be seen, as well as Erkenbrand on foot.

Tray 4:



The fourth and final tray has the fourth Battlehost, Éomer’s Knights, with four Éoreds (4 companies each, with captain and banner in three formations and a hornblower in all of them). There is also Haldir’s elves legendary formation with four companies of archers, and two variant poses of Haldir himself. A foot model of Éomer can also be seen, as well as two foot variants + a mounted one of Éowyn.

All told, a bit fewer models that in the Isengard force, amounting up to 5,310 points excluding fortunes and Haldir’s elves. Adding those, as well as Aragorn, Gandalf and other heroes, the good side could potentially wield 6,500 points’ worth of soldiers.

But, you say, never mind the unpainted minis - when will the campaign continue? Rest assured, the “second season” of our Lord of the Rings campaign will commence within a few weeks. As you might have seen in the October hobby challenge thread, I’ve completed an alternate pose of Gimli, and also Boromir (pictured below).



I’ve got three Aragorns almost finished, and three Legolases half-way there. Then it’s plenty of hobbits, as well as three Gandalfs (plus an additional fourth in the guise of the Knight Models 35mm model – that is probably still very useful in some situations).



When all these are painted, we will re-commence the campaign gameplay, and I’ll also post an updated campaign chart and schedule. Namely, we have added “Plains of Gorgoroth” scenario near the end, and will also have an epilogue (“Season 9: the Scouring of the Shire”, with several scenarios). “Seasons” you ask? Well, it seems that the flow of the campaign quite naturally divides into 6-9 month pauses for painting & terrain construction, followed by about six months’ stretch of gameplay with 3-6 scenarios each. There will be eight more of such groupings of games – just like seasons in a TV show, complete with cliffhangers and all! Season 1 concluded with the proto-fellowship reaching Rivendell, and Season 2 will include Moria and will end at Amon Hen. Stay tuned…

The first point is a large portion of praise for what you are doing. Anyone tackling those amount of figures alone is to say the least, dedicated.
My second point, or rather a question, how is Helms Deep coming along ?

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Colour me speechless. This is the most epic battle project I have ever seen! And I thought my plans were ambitious! Pmmph. Oh, all those trolls. I dream about troll armies (or maybe it's a nightmare). Can we have it finished in time for Christmas?

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@Gandlaf: alas, my dedication goes only so far... I haven't had time to advance the Helm's Deep terrain at all - but I'm itching to get to it as soon as I finish the alternate hero poses. I promise to send plenty of photos of my progress.

@edge67: thanks for the kind words! Sometimes it feels that the project and the campaign are a bit too epic to chew... but we'll get to the end of all things, step by step, even if it takes long (and I'm sure even the proposed six year schedule proves to be overtly optimistic). I will have the trolls finished in time for Christmas... Christmas 2014, that is...

This is something to look forward to for years to come, and will give us all something glorious to see even if GW decide to drop the LotR license and just run with the hobbit ( as I fear they will ).

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Mega rohan force! You are going to end up hating painting horses

Now that is a sizable amount of miniatures, should keep you busy for some time to come.

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Right you all are - these minis (and the entire campaign) will certainly keep me busy for quite a long time!

Rohan, however, must still wait its turn, as I'm completing the alternate poses of the Fellowship heroes first. Boromir and Gimli are done, and I've also finished three Aragorns and three Legolases:





Next I will target my brushes at Merry... or Merries (four different poses).

Great work on these mate. The poses are fantastic and my favourite is Aragorn with the sword and dagger.

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Can only agree wiht Gandlaf: Great work!
Your enthusiasm in painting is awe-inspiring!

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Hey Celevue, big follower of your work. Recently I bought the old Watcher in the Water tentacles from eBay and i saw your tentacles that you did a while back. How did you do the water effect on the bases to look like they are leaping out of the water? Thanks.

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@Batman, although not readily seen in the photos on page 5, the tentacle bases were first coated with acrylic gel medium, shaped like splashing water. Once dry, I painted the water very deep blue, almost black, and painted white tops to the splashes. The most visible part, however, is the foamy spray, which is made with white poly fiber - the stuff you'd fill teddy bears with. I used GW 'ardcoat to glue the poly fiber on the bases, as well as around the rim of the watcher's body. Incidentally, same poly fiber was used in the foam horses of the Ford of Bruinen.

Hope this helps!

A quick update - the Knight Models' wonderful 35mm figure of Gandalf arrived today; I've posted photos in the "New Gandalf" thread in the news section of the forum - but here's the most important one: the line-up of figures to show the height differences (or lack thereof in some cases):



The Knight Models Gandalf is 37.3mm tall from the bottom of the base (or from the tabletop) to the top of the head - just about the same as the adjacent Aragorn, and about 2.6mm taller than the Khazad-dûm Gandalf by GW. I simply love the sculpt - there is very little clean-up, and the staff and sword hands are separate parts. My only nitpick is the fact that Glamdring's scabbard (a separate piece) is not wide enough to actually fit the blade of the sword...

Otherwise, my alternate hero painting continues - here's a wip shot of Merries:

I quite like the look of that gandalf, its nice to see some alternative designs that fit in

we wants it preciousss ^^

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That KM a Gandalf is fantastic, a must have. As a single figure, and as I only do the hobby side, it would work easily into a diorama.

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