Sauron the Necromancer of Dol Guldur (Jewel of July ’18)

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Sauron the Necromancer of Dol Guldur Citadel Miniatures

Like The Tainted and the other “Named” Nazgûl that Games Workshop created in the post-RotK space, this model of Sauron is aesthetically based on the look of the characters and villains from Peter Jackson’s LotR films as well as the snippets of information gleaned from The Hobbit.

As such, this figure was designed and released many years before The Hobbit Trilogy of films was fully conceived, so Games Workshop went with a mode spectral and – in a sense – Warhammer type of design for Sauron as opposed to the “skinny pupil” design that the films went in the end, which was much more reminiscent of the Last Alliance appearance of Sauron taken from the Beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring film.

Sauron the Necromancer of Dol Guldur Citadel Miniatures

Sauron the Necromancer of Dol Guldur Citadel Miniatures

I could certainly see using this model in a Nighthaunt army alongside the new Age of Sigmar stuff, as the “ghostly” design aesthetic is still actually pretty close between this model from the early 2000s and today’s newest 2018 releases. Some of the paint here is a little bit rough – I used drybrushing for the first couple of layers before blending the later ones. It just wasn’t going to be a model where the amount of that extra effort was going to especially pay off, at least in my opinion. As is often the case, though – larger photos serve to amplify less obvious flaws and rough spots.

Sauron the Necromancer of Dol Guldur Citadel Miniatures

Here’s this iteration of Sauron alongside his fellow speculative models. I do have another of this particular sculpt, so perhaps down the line I’ll paint the other in a black-to-red scheme. Lots of other stuff to get done before that’s an active consideration, though. So for now we have another July model done!

31 thoughts on “Sauron the Necromancer of Dol Guldur (Jewel of July ’18)”

  2. Nice work. Black up to green goes really well, and I think it makes Sauron stand out very clearly from the ‘black up to blue’ of the Ringwraiths.

    I’m always really impressed with your output, not only in terms of painting but your dedication to sharing the results on this excellent blog.

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    • Thanks Argent. I used to keep models aside until I’d finished this batch or that batch, (which sometimes never happened – the troops from that elf unit last month were done literally about 4 years ago). Smaller stuff like scatter terrain I often decided wasn’t worthy.
      Now I’ve had a bit of a change of heart, and an documenting everything I finish on here. Like I said the other day – much of this stuff will never be seen by anyone otherwise!

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  3. What a great model. I don’t think I’ve seen it before. Simple but very effective paint job Az Man. I’m glad you went with green to make him stand out. I’ve been curiously eyeing off the Nighthaunts stuff lately. There’s a lot of conversion possibilities there. I really, really need to just concentrate on allllllllll the projects o have on the go though but yeah who knows haha.

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  4. Am enjoying your ghost phase. The greens of this figure contrast nicely with the darker colours of the others. As an aside, what challenges are lined up for the months ahead? I only ask because I’ll be on holiday soon away from my brushes and it’ll give me something to do other than talk to SWMBO!

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    • For the next couple of months I’ve been thinking of something different and/or some tweaks to keep it interesting.

      I’ve been considering “Technical August”, where the objective is to use techniques that stretch you a little, that you want to improve on, or are entirely new. Depending on each painter, their skills and comfort level, that can be anything and everything from using washes or drybrushing for the first time, freehand designs, glazing, working with metallics, heat effects, using the gemstone paints, freehanding gems or lenses, OSL, blending, wet blending, scratch-building, modelling using clear resin, achieving patinas.
      You’re an experienced modeller – what do you think of this? And is it still inclusive enough to the community we’re gathering here?

      September will be a slight tweak of Neglected models into neglected projects (which will include everything from single models as well as bigger stuff, terrain, dios, builds, parts of modular models, etc)

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      • Both sound good to me. I might be late to the party for August as I’m away for a large chunk of it but I like the idea. I think there is someyhing there for everyone at every level and for every genre if they want to give it a go. On a personal level I fancy trying out some of that chameleon paint you brought to my attention and I also want to explore how to paint marble. Your list has highlighted plenty more avenues too so for me Technical August may well run and run!

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  6. I still have to get used to the Nighthaunt green. To me, green doesn’t scream evil like red, black, and blue do. I’d be pretty curious to see your black to red Sauron against this one. It is really nice how this one stands apart from the other wraiths though.

    The miniature is interesting, but the images that stick out in my mind from the movie are the Eye and his appearance at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring. I used to have a minimate of that armored up Sauron. Pretty cool. Back to the mini, looks like he is sort of hollow under the robes? And is the face mask part of the helmet hollow as well? Just realizing how big he is, next to the mounted wraith, and that they are both on the same base. Pretty impressive. 🙂

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    • Yeah, spectral green for undead seems to have really started up in a big way after the Army of the Dead in Return of the King. There’s also strong “poison” associations with green, and of course this specific incarnation was of Sauron *the Necromancer*.
      The eye icon is in the middle of his chest – I considered painting it brass, but instead left it as a slightly green-tinted metal. It’s not actually hollow underneath, but that’s the effect that the model is going for. Likewise, the mask-helm is hollow, though I could probably have emphasised that a little more, since it’s picked up the light in there.
      We’ve got the Armoured Sauron here – I’ll get some photos done and post it up when I’ve got a slow couple of days.

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  9. Well done! Now you just need the nine nazgul of dol guldor from Forge World and you’d have yourself a solid for the the Hobbit SBG. But then there’s a new edition of the rules coming out next week, but I’d still wager it would be a viable force.

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    • I’ve considered that – and I’ve got a fair bit of FW stuff, but I’m in two minds if I want to get a *third* set of The Nine. I’ll come back to them once I’ve finished painting the “alternative” set of LotR nine (foot and mounted) – so at that point I’ll have 36 Ringwraiths painted before deciding if I want the additional nine from The Hobbit…

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    • Thanks Mark – no it isn’t – just plain old paints. I picked up the new hexwraith and the …other one, but have only experimented with them a tiny bit on some Bones so far.

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  11. Pingback: The Jewel of July – Personal Round-Up & July 2018 Painting Round-Up | Azazel's Bitz Box.

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