Today we have a few figures from the Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Middle Earth SBG model range(s). I’ve had these since back in the day and a few years ago with the advent of Contrast Paints, I pulled these out and based them (along with a couple of other ranges of figures) with the plan to paint them all quickly and efficiently with Contrasts, since they’re essentially a mixture of just near-civilian figures. Trash mobs, NPCs, etc – Hobbit Militia obviously falling into the former of these. That didn’t happen in the end since I find that unadulterated Contrasts just don’t work for my style as I much prefer to use them as glazes and washes over paint before highlighting in the usual manner.
Since these four are a set that’s even still available today (at least here in AU), I decided to post these up first. There are of course quite a few more Hobbitses for me to paint. Since they’re a civilian militia at best, I painted them all as individuals in naturalistic colours, and since they’re nice Hobbits I gave their arrows green fletching.
Obviously these can be used in the smaller skirmish-type versions of the different SBG battles, but my probably most likely use (if it ever happens) will be for use in the various scenarios published for the game, particularly The Scouring of the Shire – should I ever manage to have enough focus to paint the models to get through the huge, epic campaign(s).
This post is slightly dedicated to our friend Kuribo who I’ve seen agonising over selling his SBG collection – remember, a project can take years to come to fruition, but as long as you work on it from time to time it can still be rewarding – so don’t give up forever on your ME stuff!
They also represent another little batch for Dave Stone’s current Paint Whatchoogot Challenge for 23-4.
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Excellent work mate, the colours you’ve used look very natural, and something you would see in a screen shot of the Shire. Totally agree on your thoughts on contrast paints, they are a useful tool, but wouldn’t use them on their own.
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Thanks Dave – I went for my mental picture of “19th Century English Country Gentleman” for the palette, with a naturalistic palette but richer, “nicer” colours than their counterparts that will be up in a few hours…
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I’ve not seen these minis before! They’ve come out really well! 🙂
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Thanks John! I’ve got a bunch more of them to paint, but I’m not super excited to get straight to them next! 😀
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Lovely work. I generally use contrasts in the same way
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Thanks mate! Yeah, they just feel more natural and comfortable to use this way for me.
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I hear ya
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They look gorgeous, lovely work. Oh, and I use contrast paints just like you too! 😀
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Thanks mate – no shade to people who use them “properly” or Slapchop etc- I just go with what works for me properly. 🙂
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Thanks for the shout-out! 🙂 I recognized these right away as you can imagine. It sounds like you were able to get them painted up pretty quick with Contrast paints which is always nice. Yours look very nice and green seems to really suit hobbits for some reason.
I still have my hobbits for now because I’ve been too lazy and busy to make any eBay listings. One of these days I’ll get around to it but for now, they’re safe!
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Thanks mate! I think you may have misread – I didn’t go with my initial “paint with contrast” plans and instead used them heavily diluted as washes over base coats with traditional highlighting. I gave them “rich” natural colours in contrast to the Ruffians who will be going up later today. 🙂
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Shame on me! That’s what I get for reading too fast (which I’m often guilty of truthfully). And here I was really impressed thinking you HAD used Contrast 🙂 I find that I can often tell if someone has used Contrast paints as they have a certain look on miniatures so it makes total sense that you didn’t go for them here. I look forward to the Ruffians! 🙂
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These are lovely mate, I can almost smell the whiff Old Toby from here!
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Are these closer to 28mm? If so, really nice work on those eyes! The minis turned out great!
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Nice work mate they would have worked well with the Hobbit house I gave one of daughters except she put it in her Fish pond 😅😅👍🏻
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Those have come out very nicely.
Cheers,
Pete.
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I always really liked these hobbits, they’re some of my favourite models in the middle earth range. Top job on them and the bandits.
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