“To Isengard With Doom We Come!”

"To land of gloom with tramp of doom, with roll of drum, we come, we come..."

These eight 23mm tall "cartoon scale white metal figures" of Grove’s Shrubs are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be brought from the company's "Toon Realms" range. Sculpted by Trish Carden to be the Shrub Henchmen for Yewan the Treeman, I actually thought these miniatures would make some excellent-looking Ents for my ongoing 'Lord Of The Toons' project using the "Dragon Rampant" rule-set by "Osprey Games".

Initially primed with a double layer of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, the talking trees were 'immersed' in "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade and later dry-brushed using (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, as well as (the somewhat lighter) "Vallejo" Heavy Brown. I then 'picked out' their leafy beards using a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Green and "Citadel" Biel-Tan Green.

"Some of my kin look just like trees now, and need something great to rouse them."

Finally, the ancient shepherds of Fangorn Forest had their eyes 'dotted' using a tiny spot of "Vallejo" Heavy Ochre" and the fungi living on their backs treated to a lick of "Vallejo" Heavy Red. These oyster-shaped toadstools were subsequently shaded using a splash of "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, before each ensemble was tidied up, courtesy of either some additional “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, Heavy Brown and/or dash of “The Army Painter” Strong Tone Quickshade.

With two units of Lesser Warbeasts completed, I also turned my attention to one of a handful of free miniatures “Lucid Eye Publications” have kindly sent me as part of my recent orders with their company. These figures all consist of the self-same wizard sat atop a dice whilst smoking a pipe, and whilst not quite as cartoonish in style as the manufacturer’s other “Toon Realms” sculpts, they certainly seem to still fit the genre quite nicely.   

"A dark power has found its way back into the world."

As a result I’ve decided to utilise the models as statues/objective markers for my games of “Dragon Rampant”, and paint them so as to represent a variety of materials. To begin with, I thought I’d prime the wizard with some "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and subsequently treat him to a double coat of Brass. The figurine was then heavily washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade, and dry-brushed with more "Vallejo" Brass.

To give the idol some ‘weathering’ I applied plenty of "Citadel" Nihilakh Oxide over the miniature, and later ‘blended’ this in with the rest of the colour scheme by giving it a second dry-brush of "Vallejo" Brass. Lastly, I pigmented the 28mm “Games Workshop” circular base beneath the wizard using “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey, as well as a mixture of “Citadel” Nuln Oil, Biel-Tan Green and Agrax Earthshade, before dry-brushing the ‘stone plinth’ with more “Vallejo” Heavy Bluegrey.