Lord of the Rings: Moria Goblin Prowlers.

Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers

Moria Goblin Prowlers in SBG formation. A mass of nasty-sharp axe-blades!

Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers

My original trio of Prowlers, painted a few years ago now.

I finally finished these Goblin Prowlers last weekend after starting them about a month ago during my Moria Goblin push. Unfortunately, and, I guess rather predictably, I got sick of painting Moria Goblins, and they sank to the back of the front of my queue. I took them to work a couple of times. but there were just too many of them to get anything substantial done, so they sat for a little while. I finally split them into two groups and took them to work last week to get stuff done in a more focused manner, and then finished them off on the weekend.
Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers

A Conga Line of Prowler Axemen – all newly painted.

Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers

More of the New Blood

Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers

…and only a couple more of this sculpt.

As with this sort of thing, I put more effort into these than I do with faceless plastics, but still – they’re not exactly models that inspire my top-tier paintjobs. I also wanted them to look grotty and grubby, so after my usual highlighting and shading I gave them a glaze/wash of AP Soft Tone. One commentator remarked at one point that they felt that the Moria Goblins were Ochre rather than Green, but my reviewing of both stills as well as and statues and other such merchandise makes them pretty well green. Though it’s more of a light olive. I’m using Citadel Foundation Gretchin Green (sadly discontinued) as a base, then highlighting it with blends into VGA Rotting Flesh. They do blend upwards into yellow-greens, but Ochre really seems to be something based off this particular still, which can be found with more than one tone to it anyway. Either way, this tone fits the Moria mob much more than the traditional Goblin Green of my (and many other) WHFB Orcs and Goblins.
Both pics here just pulled from pages on the intarwebs, with no touch-up by myself except for resizing and renaming.

How Green is my Goblin?

All depends on the light or filter, I guess?

In Kings of War they’ll be part of my Goblin army, though I couldn’t find an appropriate unit for how they’re armed – and the actual goblin infantry all seem to be listed as pretty much rabble.
Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers
Since this simply won’t do, I’ll be using the unit profile of a KoM unit – either Foot Guard with 2-handers or perhaps Berserkers – it works legally as the armies can be allied anyway, and it thematically fits the unit. I’ll be doing a similar thing with the Gundabad Blackshields when I get around to doing them (probably “regular” Foot Guard).
Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers
 My only real issue is that even Goblin Kings in KoW are Yellow-Bellied, so it’ll be a bit odd to have their Elites braver than their leader. Then again… even that kinda works thematically as well if you think about it…
Lord of the RIngs, Middle Earth SBG, Moria Goblin Prowlers
12 for a Regiment of “20”, and two leftover for other duties and fill-ins. Unfortunately with only three sculpts there are no fancy-pants models to be banner bearers or leaders, but such is life. Let’s face it, I’m way too slack to convert any for this mob!

Troops of Gondor: Axemen of Lossarnach

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Axemen of Lossarnach

Axemen of Lossarnach looking like they’re preparing to receive a charge.

Another unit I’ve just finished, these guys were supposed to be one of those projects that takes a week, at the most. That of course was sometime between 6 months and a year ago. I honestly can’t recall since they’ve basically been a half-finished fixture of my painting table for a long time now. One of the big hold-ups that became a mental block (and then a wall) was my plan to convert one of their number into a Standard bearer for Kings of War. It took long enough to settle on a colour scheme for the unit – I went with red to get a look that is distinctive from the Warriors of Minas Tirith, especially as I find the stock GW scheme rather boring, even if it does fit in well with the WoMT.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Axemen of Lossarnach

The front rank of Halberdiers. Sorry, “Axemen.”

I chose Red for two reasons – since the unit is considered an Elite unit in the GW SBG (despite the background talking of the men of Lossarnach being farmers and such) – and obviously these guys aren’t dressed as a levy of farmers, in their fine plate over the chain. The second is because I’m reserving Blue for the substantial number of Dol Amroth guys I’ll have when the army is finished, and Green for the small “Arnor” contingent, who will either be renamed for another of the Third Age Fiefdoms when not used in scenario play, or will be a “made up” unit of WoMT guard that represents their former kinsmen by wearing their traditional uniform. I might do something in Yellow/Mustard, but I’m not really a fan of that colour as a unit colour on models for whatever reason. It works for me more as an accent. So while I’ve been reliably informed this week by someone who has a pretty thorough knowledge of Tolkien that red probably wouldn’t have been used by Gondorians, I’m going with a combination of artistic licence, the rule of cool (I think they look good) and the fact that they were already painted(!)

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Axemen of Lossarnach

The Second Rank. Are these guys starting to look like some kind of dance party?

I did briefly consider using some form of Tartan for the sashes on these guys, but with the Clansmen of Lamedor also in my painting queue, I decided that I’ve already got enough figures to make me sick of painting Tartan without starting here. Now take a good look at the next picture.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Axemen of Lossarnach

Okay, it’s *definitely* looking like some kind of traditional dance party now…

Did you look? The red line on the under-surcoat of the leftmost guy being thicker than the others really does bother me for some reason. Did you even notice it?

Anyway, with the upcoming KoW rules having done away with Standards and Musicians in units as things that have their own rules (since in 1E they were overpriced and pretty much just cancelled each other out) and now just going with “model them however you like”, It helped to motivate me to just get these guys off the paint desk and onto the gaming table. I might do a standard bearer for them sometime down the line, but it’s not a priority for the moment.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Axemen of Lossarnach

The Men of Lossarnach pose from the front. Spiky!

Oh, and the reason that the second and third ranks don’t have any static flock/grass on their bases is simple. I ran out of Matt Varnish, so they’ve got a coat of satin for the time being while I wait for a couple of new cans of anti-shine I ordered to come in. The front rank was finished first, and got some of the Matt before it expired.

I’ll try to get a whole-army shot featuring the Gondor units I’ve shown off so far sometime soon. I’m working on some unit leaders for the WoMT Spear and Bowmen that I’m really struggling to get done, and I really want to get those finished first, so hopefully we’ll have the army shots soon.

Citadel Miniatures Lord of the Rings Axemen of Lossarnach

The opposite flank of the Axemen.

 Another unit done! Hooray!