Fantasy Flight – Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Shadowed Paths – Nameless Things (#Monstermarch6 ?)

Fantasy Flight - Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Shadowed Paths - Nameless Things

After what was supposed to be a extra-restful recharge-friendly week, with a long weekend turned out to be an exceptionally brutal one instead, I’ve not gotten as much painted as I’d hoped. Funny dat. Anyway. I did manage to finish something in that time, and that was a trio of Monsters from the Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth board game, this time from the “Shadowed Paths” expansion. The Nameless Things.

Fantasy Flight - Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Shadowed Paths - Nameless Things

Many have speculated over many years on what Tolkien might have meant or wanted to insinuate with his writings on the Nameless Things – and which “named” creatures might be amongst their number, like The Watcher in the Water, or Ungoliant. Luckily, Fantasy Flight has come to all our aid and filled in the blank for us. Question answered, everybody. You can go home now. They’re ground-worm-grub-things. Like in that movie, Tremors.

Fantasy Flight - Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Shadowed Paths - Nameless Things, DAK Infantry, Reaper Miniatures 50153 Berkeley Zombie Survivor

Here’s some I prepared earlier this week. I didn’t go full maggot with their paint, and instead tried to make them look a little more like something that could feasably exist, with the digging and the dirt… so at this point I’m not sure if these are 28mm models, or if they’re supposed to be gigantic like Dune’s sandworms and are just downscaled like those Siege Engines I got posted up in the last post. As such, once again I’m not entirely sure if they fit the criteria for Swordmaster’s Monster March Painting Challenge, but I’ll throw their little top hats into the ring anyway and see what he says.

Fantasy Flight – Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Spreading War – Siege Engines (#Monstermarch6 ?)

Fantasy Flight - Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Spreading War - Siege Engines

Today’s post gives us another couple of models from Fantasy Flight’s Journeys in Middle-Earth app-driven board game. Specifically a pair of “Siege Engines” from the Spreading War expansion. Of course, we wargaming geeks call them “Siege Towers”, but the board game calls them “Engines”, so there you have it as far as the title of this post goes… Looking at their size, they appear to be around 10-15mm scale (very roughly) and so they don’t exactly fit in with the 28/32mm nature of most of the rest of the cast of the game, but such abstration is part of the name of being board game models in a lot of cases.

Fantasy Flight - Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Spreading War - Siege Engines

Pretty straightforward in terms of painting. Both were primed in black, and one was drybrushed up in shades of brown while the other had alternating shades of grey and brown. The one was washed in Agrax Earthshade Gloss for a browner tone, while the other was washed in Nuln Oil Gloss for a less rich tone. One got it’s Eye of Sauron markings in red, the other, white. All designed to make the two of them fit in just fine in a side-by side situation while also allowing the two to be distinctive enough to be used in gameplay in a “ok, move the red one” manner.

Fantasy Flight - Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth Spreading War - Siege Engines, DAK Infantry, Reaper Miniatures 50153 Berkeley Zombie Survivor

As the Engines have four torches/flaming brands on their upper platform, I felt like they’d look a little odd without some OSL. I’m not the best at this technique, so hopefully they look alright without being too over the top. I’m also not entirely sure if they fit the criteria for Swordmaster’s Monster March Painting Challenge, but this year’s works do include a couple of AT Titans and a unit of Cavalry, so I may as well chuck them into the ring and see what happens!

As usual for my outsized models, Berkeley had to make an appearance for scale purposes, though this time she’s aided by …tiny 15mm infantry of the Afrika Korps?