Friday, March 30, 2012

Goblin Captain Done

Well, with another lick of paint the goblin is done!

Mur'baj goblin captain.

Mur'baj started life as a menial goblin, scrubbing pots in the rudimentary kitchen of Durburz.

Lifting the massive pots and pans developed large (for a goblin) muscles and during a spider infestation he made a name for himself as a drummer, beating the pots in time to the warrior's strikes.

During a battle against some dwarves in which he was drumming, the front lines crumbled and dwarves broke through the ranks.

Attacking the support goblins, Mur'baj found himself fighting for his life!

Deflecting an axe with the large bones he used for drumming he found himself almost berserk. The years in the kitchen and drumming had built up a lot of muscle power and frustration.

Wielding his drumming bones as large clubs he beat two dwarves senseless and led a counter-charge that saved his king from a Khazad Guard assault.
After the battle he was made captain, given a warrior's shield and allowed to keep a dwarven axe-head.

He continues to wear his drummer uniform, fury and muscle (and fate) keeping him alive in place of the heavier armour of other captains.

Wow, I need to learn not to take photos so close to a) the light and b) the camera!

It's amazing how up close it looks so blotchy, but even just holding it in your hand and looking at it is far, far smoother! Anyway, take my word for it that it looks better in real life!


And from behind (not that he's cowardly)...


Just for size comparisons, here are the three minis on my desk at the moment...


I've had a couple questions asking how I think I've improved my LotR painting skills over the years (I first painted my Mines of Moria set when it came out a while ago now, and that was the first miniature painting I'd done since the late '80s). I'm enjoying the small amounts of time I get to paint, it helps to enjoy it! I long ago decided that I was happy with good standard miniatures. Not super powered! All I stick to is paints out of the pot, though watered a little bit. I just don't have the time, money, patience or skill to do colour mixing. The only paint I've mixed in these minis is the final highlight on the cave troll (and that came from the pre-mixed space wolves pot), all the other colours are straight out of the bottles!

It might not make for superb up close under direct lights shots, but even at a short distance they look really good - as you can probably tell better in the battle reports than individual shots here! (In my opinion that is!)

So my number one piece of advice - solid, neat first layer - wash - highlight with original colour. Just that sequence will make a huge difference AND it's really quick. After that, I tend to try and choose colours that have sequences you can apply direct from the pots if I want another layer.

For my nicer minis I then do another wash, but selective areas, and another highlight, again of selected areas. I'm interested in seeing how much easier it will be with the new paint range coming out soon!

If all goes well I'll be having my birthday battle (slightly belated) late next week (probably Thursday), until then I'll potter around at another goblin warband to go with this captain. Hopefully I'll get my troll chieftain in the mail at some stage soon, and also start putting together my new eagles. I think it'll look cool to have the three eagles facing off against the three trolls!

5 comments:

  1. Is that the one that was originally a drummer? Came up well!

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  2. Yuppers, should give him a story huh.

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  3. I haven't had a look at your blog for a while now but holy crap your Eagle looks amazing you have a much higher standard of painting that I do. XD

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  4. Hey, thanks =)
    There's WIP shots etc. of the eagle a few posts back, it's really not super hard if you've got the time and lots of brown wash!
    I'm also not in a hurry to get things done, so I get very little actually painted over any given time, not so useful for most people!

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