Wednesday 11 December 2019

"But Even The Wild Wargs..."

"...(for so the evil wolves of the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees."
This 28mm scale white metal figure of Grimm The Wolf is produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range as part of the company’s “Where’s Runcorn?” Adventure Module 2 series. Sculpted by Trish Carden, I intend to use half a dozen of the furry miniatures to represent a pack of the "giant, intelligent, and malevolent wolves" depicted in J.R.R. Tolkien’s "The Hobbit" as a unit of Lesser Warbeasts for “Dragon Rampant” by "Osprey Games".

Originally primed using two coats of "Vallejo" Dark Grey, the goblin steed was drenched in "Citadel" Nuln Oil before being heavily dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal. As I felt this still made the 'warg of Gundabad' somewhat too dark in colour for my liking, I decided to give the animal a lighter dry-brush of "Vallejo" Heavy Bluegrey.
"Toon Realms" WIPs - These King Victor Men-At-Arms just need some shading and dry-brushing
However, before applying the paint, I waited until it was almost completely dry on my palette in order for it to actually cover the model in a fine dust of pigment, rather than a straightforward 'highlight'. I then dotted the beast's angry eyes with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Red and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson. Finally, I 'picked out' all of the wolf's sharp teeth with "Vallejo" White and shaded them using a little "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade.

Whilst working on Grimm, I have also dug out three partially-painted figures taken from King Victor's Men-at-Arms pack. I actually completed a test piece from this blister back in the early summer, but then seemingly lost the “Lucid Eye Publications” bug shortly afterwards. I hope to use these Steve Saleh sculpts to represent a unit of (Heavy Foot) Minas Tirith Knights for “Dragon Rampant”, so was rather pleased to discover that alongside this trio I also own another two unopened plastic bags containing even more of the armoured soldiers.
"Lucid Eye Publications" WIPs - These primed figures (and more like them) will be finished during the AHPC
Indeed, having cleaned, based and primed these welcome reinforcements, I will now have enough Men-at-Arms to field a full-strength, twelve-model warriors of Gondor warband for my reinvigorated "Lord Of The Toons" project. Happily, I have additionally also uncovered a handful of members taken from King Victor's Royal Guard; one of which I have previously pigmented in the colours of the Guards of the Tower of Gondor...

Lastly, I have decided to make use of a free miniature “Lucid Eye Publications” kindly sent me in my most recent order, by turning it into a bronze statue of a fabled "Toon Realms" wizard. For now, I've simply super-glued the metal figure onto a plastic 25mm base (to represent a stone plinth) and then subsequently stuck it to one of the 40mm thin-lipped circular bases I use for objective markers. But once the Tenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC) has started I intend to submit it as a reasonably straightforward example of a verdigris-crusted casting.

16 comments:

  1. Great work on the wolf Simon, good progress and prep work

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    1. Thanks very much Dave, I've almost finished all my backlogged "Toon Realms" stuff, so am now really looking forward to the start of the AHPC to get even more done.

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  2. Cracking looking figures!

    I'm in awe of just how much you've managed to paint this year too!

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    1. Cheers SpacecowSmith. This is my most productive painting year so far, as I've just reached my highest tally ever, and have a load more painted minis to post already :-)

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  3. A very nice wolf. The sculpt has a lot of character and your painting makes it look great. The knights are coming along well too.

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    1. Thanks Undercoat. The Knights are now finished and should be posted soon, so there's lots more "Toon Realms" to come.

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  4. What a cracking bunch of delightful figures. I'm thoroughly enjoying these Toon Realms posts.

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    1. Cheers Bryan. Hopefully you're enjoying the "Toon Realms" stuff as much as I'm enjoying painting them.

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  5. I like them, I like them a lot.
    Lovely work on the warg or whatever he is, for me he looks perfect as a model for the 'Big Bad Wolf' in stories like Little Red Riding Hood.

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    1. Thanks Wouter. There's definitely that Big Bad Wolf feel to Grimm, isn't there?

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  6. Love the wolf. Reminds me of Gmork from Never Ending Story.

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    1. Cheers Dai. You could definitely dab the eyes with some green and use the sculpt as Gmork. Great shout!!

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  7. The wolf looks good dude. Quite funny really I got a wolf finished this weekend!

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    1. Thanks Simon. Perhaps we're due a full moon this week, LOL!!

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  8. That is one brutal looking wolf ! Just loving the Toons in their entirety and comical appearance; I don;t think that I've seen a "weak" sculpt yet.

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    1. Cheers Joe. I entirely agree. Not a bad sculpt to be seen so far.

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