Terrain Project: Weathertop, Pt 2

After long, long, LONG last, I finally have a post for the blog. Many thanks to Glenstorm for keeping the blog on life support - really appreciate the views!

While my wife and I wait for my daughter to arrive (due date is Thursday), I've been working on a ton of stuff - I've been GMing a fantasy roleplay series (product not yet released, but we'll keep you posted if it ever hits the online stores), painting some High Elves from Warhammer Fantasy (might get a picture update in when at least one set is kind of done), and been learning the art of broadsword fighting for support of a rather successful teen camp that was held in the area recently (themed by the Lord of the Rings).

But today is about Angmar - yes, this report comes in two parts: Weathertop painting and Ringwraith conversions.



1) Spray Painting Terrain Pieces

I don't know if I've posted this before or not, but I don't spray paint my models. I like to base paint with a brush because I try to get acquainted with all the details before I start putting real paint onto each guy. This makes the process of batch-painting more time-consuming, but I don't mind the extra time spent if it alerts me to what I need to pay attention to when detailing. For terrain pieces, though, using a manual brush is really, really, REALLY time consuming. So for my battle board, some large terrain pieces, and this piece in particular, I wanted a spray paint. The paint used was a Espresso brown found at a local hardware store - nothing fancy. My wife and I actually bought it for a mirror alteration project, and since it wasn't being used, I co-opted it.

One of the accidents I made when using a saw on this particular piece of terrain was a "pot hole" I made. Yeah, everyone has their clumsy moments with a knife and this was mine for the week. The beauty of terrain projects, though, is that you can turn almost any mistake (if it's not a painstaking detail) into something workable. In this case, there's now a pothole on one of the roads up. I'm going to put cardboard (or maybe some black foam) in the hole to show that it goes down...deep down. We'll see how that plays out as far as rules go, but something new and different to be sure.

2) Converting Nazgul

So I'll admit, I'm cheap when it comes to Ringwraiths. I can either buy all nine of them now for ~$75 if you can find them on discount OR I can buy individual "twilight" versions for $12 each OR I can pay international exchange rate fees and still pay $12 each when you factor in shipping if I buy them from non-US retailers via Ebay. As a result, when Glenstorm contacted me about some High Elf swordsmen he was converting into spectres, I perked up at the opportunity for a conversion project. After a failed attempt at using putty to convert them (lots of folds of cloaks = lots of putty = not worth it on a budget), I decided to do the next best thing: use paper.

So the great thing about cloaks (and billowing fabric) is that paper makes for a great substitute. Also, if you're cutting up other stuff anyway, the scraps are perfect and effectively free. Here you see how some paper was added to this Ringwraith in order to help with his conversion. Like the Witch King model I designed him after, the paper was added in layers, provided a tiered look the clothing, consistent with other Ringwraith models. Still lots of work to be done on these guys, but it's coming together now!

In the coming days, I hope to get some hobbying done while I'm at home caring for my family. If I do, I'm looking at not only continuing these conversions, but also painting up some Rohan Riders I got a while back and put up a brief post on.

Until I see you again, happy hobbying!

P.S. If you've converted Ringwraiths before, I'd love to see them! Post them on a blog of your own and send the link in comments!