Last time, we looked at the conversion work I did to turn 6 Grim Hammers and the heads/bits of some of the Dwarves from Thorin's Company into the Champions of Erebor. Today, we're going to take the remaining 7 Dwarves and get them all converted up.
I will note from the get-go that there was one thing I didn't feel brave enough to try: sculpting hair for Kili and Oin. Both of these guys in the Thorin's Company blister have their hoods on, so right now they have hoods up too. When I picked up 24 Warriors of Erebor, I took the 13 helmeted heads from the Grim Hammers that I didn't need for this project, and have added them to many of the Warriors of Erebor without helmets. I'll borrow two of these heads (at least the hair) to fix Kili and Oin ata later date. Until then, though, this will work. Let's get locked in!
The Casualties of the Battle of Five Armies
Up first are the royals who perished at the Battle of Five Armies: Thorin, Kili, and Fili. Thorin is the king, so naturally, we'll start with him.
Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain
Thorin is a leader, so I wanted his arm up. One of the Grim Hammer poses has his hand raised, so I thought this would be perfect:
Orcrist was kept and added to the raised hand, but the other sword will be kept for Fili:
He also needed a cloak, so I got some putty and sat down with my Dain model and tried to imitate it as best I could:
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| Okay, I'll admit it - the guys at ForgeWorld are just better at this than me, alright? Not bad for a first try, though . . . |
The king is done - and he turned out alright. Now to work on his nephews . . .
Fili got the same pose as Thorin - his swords are also nice to have since they match the Iron Hills Dwarves swords:
Pretty simple change here - head on, sword from Thorin, done (Fili's swords will be saved for the Iron Hills Dwarves with no extra gear that I need to convert up):
Kili the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
Kili, as has been said, will be getting a better set of hair/new head in the future. I'm okay with him for now - the conversion was simple, requiring only a new head and his sword:
Job's a good one - this concludes the list of models that we need exclusively for the Armies of the Hobbit era (sort of):
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| Got a little blue on his face, but since I know his face isn't permanent, I'm not worried about it. |
The Moria Expedition
The next three Dwarves posed an interesting dilemma: I might use these guys with all the others, but I might also use them in my Kingdom of Moria army. An updated Balin would be awesome, Oin heals guys, and Ori makes Balin better after he kills big things. Let's start with the big guy himself . . .
Balin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
Balin is my least favorite member of Thorin's Company and is pretty much only good as a champ if he's driving a chariot (in my humble opinion). Balin in the Kingdom of Moria list is my favorite hero, so despite my dislike for the guy, I wanted to do a good job. Balin required a head swap, but I also stole his sword to use with an Iron Hills Dwarf:
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| That beard is staying - it's far too epic to leave off in trade for whatever Grim Hammer beard was there before . . . |
This may be my third favorite model of the conversion project and I absolutely love him (despite how bad I think his profile is):
Oin the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
Oin is a cool healer and can give you niche rerolls. I really like him, but he needed a shield too (which I got from the Warriors of Erebor blister) and maybe a new head (which will also come from the Warriors of Erebor blister - at least the hair will):
The end result looks alright, but like Kili, I really want to fix the hood thing (but that's future-Tiberius's problem):
Ori the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
Ori just required a head swap and will be interesting to keep the Might flowing in the Moria or Erebor Reclaimed lists I have:
He looks alright - pretty pleased:
And the Last Guy . . .
We come at last to the guy who is almost always last: Bombur. Bombur is weird, but I kinda wanted a model that matched both army colors and styles. The ability to get Will back is great, so let's get him ready!
Bombur the Dwarf, Champion of Erebor
I saw one Grim Hammer pose where the guy is swinging his hammer-pick and decided I needed that for Bombur. Bombur needed a head swap and the flail from Dori:
Getting that head off proved to be quite the task, but eventually it came off. I originally wanted the beard loop to go between the arms, but one look at the gap and I knew that was out of the question - so I put the beard over the arms instead (SUPER pleased with how this turned out):
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| I love the Grim Hammer pose for this model - and having that flail flying sideways was too perfect to pass up! |
Conclusion
And now I have 13 Dwarves ready to lead some littler Dwarves (and serve beside two future kings). I love doing conversion projects like this and compared to my previous attempt to convert Thorin's Company Dwarves from GW sculpts back in 2013, I think I can safely say I've come a long way over the past ten years from where I was. Always remember where you came from and get better from there - and boy am I excited to make an Erebor board for these guys to play on (with buildings from the Kingdom of Durak Deep, of course). If you enjoyed this little project, let me know in the comments below! If you think our conversion journey is done with these guys, though, you'd be wrong - we still have 13 mangled Dwarf bodies lying around and I have a neat plan for what to do with them. Until next time, happy hobbying!
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