The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
“Old fool!” he said. “Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!” And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.
“Old fool!” he said. “Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!” And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.
– Gandalf’s encounter with The Witch-King of Angmar in The Return of the King, The Siege of Gondor
This model of The Witch King was one of the many that sat around half-painted for a measure of years before finally seeing completion at the end of one of my occasional bouts of focused “Just finish that effing thing!” a couple of months ago. With the chaos that has been happening lately, it took sometime to be photographed, and time again before being cropped, and now, finally posted. These were actually the photos I was working on when I noticed the hard drive beginning to fail a couple of weeks ago, as they weren’t saving first time and easily.
As with the others that I’ve painted previously, I’ve taken some liberties – the Witch-King’s steed here is dark brown rather than black, and I’ve also added the beaten copper to the horse’s icon, both in an attempt to add some visual interest to what could have been a more accurate, but far more boring paint job. Similarly, I’ve used weathering powders mixed with matte varnish to add a dirty effect to the bottom hem of his robes.
This leaves me with 5 more “basic” mounted Nazgûl to paint in order to represent The Nine in games of SBG and whatnot, though naturally, I have a couple of mounted extras – because that happens when you buy large collections on eBay, plus the foot versions, and a fell beast or two, and also most (all?) of the “Named Character” versions of the Nazgûl that Games Workshop came out with late in the SBG’s pre-Hobbit life, because BUY THESE MODELS. To be fair, though, they’re overall a nice batch of models and as any regular reader of this blog knows by now, owning unnecessary models is kinda my thing.
Obviously, this rather proud king has uses in any official LotR games, particularly the Strategy Battle Game, but he’ll also serve in the Undead Army for Kings of War (as a Vampire Lord) until such a time as my Mordor Army has sufficient figures painted to be up and running independently of the rather generic Undead force. (His not-quite-finished self can be seen in those pics, too!)
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Brilliant mate. I really like the model and you’ve done it justice with your skills as a painter. The weathering looks perfect. Not too much or too little.
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Thanks IRO. I’m looking forward to the weather getting better so I can get some terrain done with some nice appropriate weathering as well.
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Very nice 👍
I’ll have to try these weathering powders one of these days….
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They’re worth the play. When I first decided to try using them I bought alcohol and all the rest to use as fixative, which looks nice, but has issues with the powders becoming far less visible, and not great either for models that need to be handled. It wasn’t for a long time until I worked out to simply mix them with some matte varnish and a small bit of (distilled water/lahmium medium/whatever you use to thin your paint) and then basically paint it on, just being sure to have it thinner/feathered where it meets the area that you want non-powdered.
Also, grab some “Dry Pigments” from the local Art Supplies – especially your brown/dark grey/blacks since it’s the same stuff anyway, only cheaper and for more product!
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Thanks for the tips; I will give it a go!
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Excellent!
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Thanks!
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Very nice indeed mate, good call on the brown for the horse! It’s subtle, but really does a good job in showing the rider off to best effect. Love the black robes, and the use of weathering powder is spot on. Superb!
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Thank you Alex. I’m sure in the right, dark, lighting the whole shebang would look appropriately black, so I’m going with that. 😉
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I’ve been toying with the idea of using weathering powders. Which brand did you use? Are they similar to Vallejo pigments?
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Thanks Mark. The ones I used were either the Kromlech ones, the Vallejo Pigments or some I got from a local Art Supplies – Gamblin Burnt Umber – (which it turns out is the best way to buy a lot of the colours, as you get a TON more for a fraction of the price. They call them “Dry Pigments”, but same stuff basically.
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Thanks. I just bought a couple Vallejo sets of 4 (soot and dust & stone and cement I think) that I got to use on some 3D printed ruined buildings. I looked at some YouTube videos and hopefully I can use and fix without an airbrush (don’t have one). Your work gives me some hope on that front! I’m assuming you varnished before applying the pigments?
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Those Vallejo sets will probably have enough to have you going for awhile unless there’s a key colour you’d also like to get. I think I have both of those sets myself from when I bought my first ones. I do my (final) varnish before pigments, and all my stuff is brush-applied as well.
I worked out to simply mix them with some matte varnish and a small bit of (distilled water/lahmium medium/whatever you use to thin your paint) and then basically paint it on, just being sure to have it thinner/feathered where it meets the area that you want non-powdered.
There’s some examples here of my use of them on scenery. Both were a matter of “finishing” the scenery, then mixing up the powders into a wash, then wiping away with a tissue where needed:
Both posts are still mangled right now because Photobucket, and I’m about to head out for a few hours, but I’ll repair them both once I get home – so give me 12 hours to be safe!
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Gorgeous paintjob on a gorgeous mini, well done sir.
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Thank you mate. Maybe I can motivate myself to finish the rest of the “plain” riders now?
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Definitely sounds like a plan to me!
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One of the best versions of the Witch King. I want to get my hands on this one but GW don’t do it. 😭
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I’d recommend just keeping an eye out on eBay, pretty much everything will turn up there sooner or later. I also understand that there are some great B/S/S groups on facebook, though I’ve got no experience with them personally.
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Yep that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing problems with eBay scalpers and with Facebook not really done it and hit and miss who gets her first.
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Yeah, I haven’t done facebook myself, but I’ve had luck over the years on eBay. You’ve just got to play the long game there…
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I think the mud effect on his cloak worked out very well and adding some accent colour to the horse also paid off.
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Thanks! 🙂
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