The Hobbit: Balin

Finished Balin this morning!  The event last night was a blast! Someone had an app loaded onto a computer where you could enter your real name and it would give you a Hobbit name.  Mine was Lotho Bumbleroot!

We had some enthusiastic players, and the Dwarves and Bilbo fought their way to freedom, suffering the loss of the redoubtable Dwalin in the process!

Thanks for visiting! 

--Scott

The Hobbit: Bilbo

You can't have a Hobbit game without Bilbo Baggins, and so here he is!

While the smallest member of the company, I also found Bilbo easiest to paint, and I decided to give him his walking stick instead of Sting.

Tonight is the event, so I am not sure I will have the next member of the Company done first thing Friday, but we'll see. 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Bofur

With the completion of Bofur, I now have 9 of Thorin's Company done!  This is plenty for the event Thursday night, but I also feel like I need Bilbo, so I plan to get him done next.

In the meantime, give Bofur a look!

Bofur may have been the toughest to complete so far. Sort of sticking to GW's color scheme, he almost got away from me, but I managed to reel him back in with judicious use of inks and subtle highlights.

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Thorin

What would Thorin's Company be without Thorin Oakenshield?  This rather tall Dwarf included two options for armament, Orcrist, or a short blade and the eponymous Oakenshield.

I agonized for a while, but ended up choosing the Orcrist.  If I am ever lucky enough to land a second one, I will do him with the Oakenshield.

Anyway, here he is!

He's a head taller than this Dwarf Ranger--must be the Ent Wash!

A true fighting company!

Having used 7 of the company in a game on Sunday, I can attest they are awesome to behold in battle.  Now with Thorin they'll be even deadlier!  I think using these guys will work best with a single player fielding a sub-group of his favorites. They've got a lot of special rules, but they also have a lot of Might, Will, and Fate, so there's some game resources to keep track of.  They're perfect for demo games where you want the new players to feel cool and special.  You field the goblins and let the newbie play a couple of stout Dwarves!

  Now, a brief digression!  I was nominated for an online blogger award called a Liebster Award by Rothgar of Rothgar's Workbench.  Thanks! The way this works is I now list my 5 favorite blogs, and let those bloggers know I've named them (why does this feel like a chain letter with no money involved? is time still money?).  Anyway, here are 5 of my favorites!

http://clearhorizonsalvage.blogspot.com/
(for all of my 15mm sci-fi inspiration)

http://brummieswargamingblog.blogspot.com/
(for general miniature hobby coolness)

http://baronvonj.blogspot.com/
(because the Baron's a righteous dude and I envy his painting, wargame group, and basement)

http://ironworkersminiatures.blogspot.com/
(because Nathan's another gamer whose drive and talent inspire me)

http://leadaddict.blogspot.com/
(while a member of the Baron's crew, Ken is a fearsome blogger in his own right)

And very special mention to Tenz at the Basement Motive:

http://basementmotive.blogspot.com/

An awesome Goalsystem blog!


So yeah, get ready guys, because like the blogger-chain-letter-santa-claus I will be visiting each of your blogs today and leaving a message that you have earned a Leibster too!  Although I think the Baron already won one. But oh well.

Thanks again, Rothgar!

And thanks to you all for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Kili

It's now time to show off the most dashing member of Thorin's Company, Kili!  He looks a lot like a Dwarvish version of Aragorn, and he will synergize perfectly with this brother. Fili!

Check him out!

Check out that 5-o'clock shadow!

Thorin's Co.--8 strong!

I may try for either Thorin or Bilbo next, we'll see! 


Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Gloin

Gloin is done!  He's another gem, and it's obvious that he is Gimli's father! I love the fact that his axes are similar in style and heft to the ones we've seen on the Gimli figures--nice touch GW!

Seven company members down, seven to go!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Dori

Dori has been done!

One of the elder statesman of Thorin's company, GW's color palette for Dori was pretty easy to match with my own paints. And he's another great mini!

Next up, Gloin, father of Gimli!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Bifur

 Bifur is done! He also looks to be a really nasty melee fighter for the company, but we'll see!

Plenty of earth tones on this guy!

Sizes up well with the Rangers.

Five Dwarves strong!

Next up, Dori!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Nori

Nori comes next in my march toward completion of Thorin's Company.  I actually bought the GW color Skavenblight Dinge for his coat, and I really like it!

I actually glued his twin knives on upside down, but I don't mind, they look just as cool like this!

  

 

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Dwalin

As notable for his sheer size and impressive armament as he is for his amazing combat stats, Dwalin stands as the second toughest member of Thorin's Company.

The figure's amazing look speaks for itself, and he was the easiest so far to paint. Check him out!

Thanks for visiting! Tomorrow, Nori's next!

--Scott

The Hobbit: Fili Is Done

Back for a second Dwarf on the second day?  Excellent!  Today we have Fili, the dashing, young Dwarf warrior who is part of a duo of Dwarven brothers!  We'll get to Kili on another day!

Those twin blades also count as throwing axes in the game, so he'll certainly become a favorite of mine!

Tomorrow, the second-baddest Dwarf in Thorin's company!

Thanks for visiting!

--Scott

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Project!

The Lord of the Rings plastic Dwarf Rangers are my favorite LotR models, and favorite dwarves, period, of all the many "stunties" I've painted over the years.  So it came as no surprise to me that I would be interested in the new Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Strategy Battle Game from GW.  At $125 it's not cheap, but you get a lot of high-quality, hard-plastic models, including a baker's dozen of the coolest, most characterful dwarven warriors you could ever want.

Thorin's Company is simply awesome! Anyway, it's not often my two work lives collide, but the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (where I practice the fine art of librarianship) is hosting a Night in The Wilderland on December 13th from 8:30 - 10:30, and the shop I work for on Sundays, Phantom of the Attic, will be there to put on demos of the new GW game! Pretty cool!

So I've been tasked with painting the Thorin and Co.  That's 13 Dwarves, 1 Hobbit, and a very cranky Wizard (Gandalf, of course).  Now I don't think I'll really need to have all of the lads done for the demos, but I'd like to see if I can knock off a dwarf or so a day  for the next 11 days to see if I can make it happen.  We shall see! 

Let's start the proceedings with the figure that might be among my favorites, Oin!

Scale shot with Dwarf Ranger--Oin only slightly taller. 

I did not stick 100% to GW's suggested colors mainly because I don't own all of the the new paints, but I feel like I captured the spirit of this super-dynamic mini. 

Really enjoying this so far!  Tomorrow, another dwarf! 

--Scott