Category Archives: Mordor

Mordor Troll Chieftain – Lord of the Rings: SBG (Monster MAYhem ’22)

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Citadel Mordor Troll Chieftain - Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game SBG

It’s been quite some time since I’ve painted a Lord of the Rings model from the Citadel SBG ranges – so here’s one that I decided to assemble alongside the Minotaur Lord recently for the the Monster March painting challenge, and then finally got to painting for Monster MAYhem instead.

Citadel Mordor Troll Chieftain - Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game SBG

This is the metal version of the model, though I also have one in Finecast. As such, the thing didn’t lend itself very nicely to any form of conversion or modification, weighs a ton and was a real awkward bitch of a thing to paint. I may do something slightly more interesting with the Finecast one down the line, but that’ll be a different post for the future.

Citadel Mordor Troll Chieftain - Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game SBG

Painting was actually pretty quick and somewhat easy – going from assembled and sprayed to completed over three or four days – though very little enjoyment or fun was involved. Lots of drybrushing, washing (including thinned Contrasts) and a bit of normal brushwork. I might give a bit mroe effort to the finecast one down the line, but this one’s just not a particularly amazing model. Technically, the sculpting is fine – not flashy nor especially well detailed, though the armour is nice – but the awkward pose and weight of the model meant it was something I just wanted to get done and the fuck away from the painting desk.

Citadel Mordor Troll Chieftain - Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game SBG

One good thing about all of this was that despite the model not being any fun to paint, the speed I managed to get the troll completed in means I don’t have a particular resentment to it either – and so once it’s on the shelf (and possibly one day, an actual wargame table) I’ll be just fine with it. Not every model can be a favourite, and even some of the big impressive ones aren’t going to be fun to paint, but even so they can be completely decent on the tabletop.

Citadel Mordor Troll Chieftain - Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game SBG

This is my final model for this year’s Monster MAYhem, though I’ll no doubt be finishing off the stragglers for another few months at least. There’ll be just another post with something else before the round-up this week(end) and then I’ll have my May painting round-up alongside my Monster MAYhem round-up.

The Mouth of Sauron (Foot & Mounted) – Technical August

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Citadel Miniatures The Mouth of Sauron Foot & Mounted

After more than 8 years, I finally got motivated to finish The Mouth of Sauron on his mount, and while I was at it, I properly finished off the foot version as well. Finding the mounted model in a figure case was what got this show back on the road. (The same one I found The Tainted in, actually).

Despite a very similar dress sense, The Mouth of Sauron is not a Nazgûl, but a Black Númenórean. In the film his mount is depicted with rusty, aged barding – though decent shots of him or his mount are few and far between. I used a couple of different Vallejo Model Washes, which I haven’t done a lot with, with paint mixed in as well as some stippling to try and get the right kind of rusty effect, followed by a re-highlight of the metal edges. The final outcome isn’t perfect, but I feel like it’s still come up pretty well.

Citadel Miniatures The Mouth of Sauron Mounted

As a Black Númenórean, The Mouth of Sauron was the design cue that GW used to create their Black Númenórean Warriors, and by extension, their Castellans of Dol Guldur. The rusty effect of his armour isn’t quite the same as the brassy look that I gave those troops, but it’s a slight bridge in that direction. I might have done the same with his armour, but keeping it close to the film-canon was more important in this case.

Citadel Miniatures The Mouth of Sauron Foot & Mounted

He’s not much use in the Fellowship of the Ring Scenario Project that I started on a couple of months ago, but he’ll certainly have a place when I eventually get to Return of the King.