"The Mouth Of Sauron Was A Living Man."

"His true name had been forgotten, even by himself."

This 28mm scale metal model of "the herald and messenger of Sauron" is produced by "Games Workshop", and can be bought as part of a two figure set from the Nottingham-based company's "Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game" range. Somewhat embarrassingly however, I purchased this particular sculpt separately at a wargaming show's second-hand stall many moons ago, and didn't even need to assemble it.

The fourth of my entries for this year's Zomtober challenge, the Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dûr was given an undercoat of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, enthusiastically dry-brushed with “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal and drenched in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then 'picked out' his belt with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, before layering the miniature's armour, formidable-looking face-grill and two-handed sword in “Vallejo” Gunmetal.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - The Black Panther is slowly having his base colours applied

These metallic areas were subsequently drowned in “Citadel” Nuln Oil and carefully dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Gunmetal. I next 'picked out' the devoted servant of Sauron's sharpened teeth with a few dabs of White Star by "Two Thin Coats", and his partially-visible chin with a smear of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone. Finally, to slightly 'bloody up' the fangs and flesh I applied a little "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson to them.

Other bloggers taking part in Zomtober 2023 are:

PMPainting

Cheaphammer

Pmackay140215

Games_with_graven & Graven's Bloggit

Rantings From Under The Wargames Table

Dead Lead Project

Wargames Terrain Workshop

Miniature Mayhem

With the potential leader of my Mordor "Lord of the Rings" army completed, at least as a foot figure, I was planning on pigmenting some Nazgul for the rest of Zomtober. However, that cunning idea has been somewhat thrown into disarray by the unexpected arrival of my Devourer Pledge for the Marvel Zombies Kickstarter by "CoolMiniOrNot". This huge addition to the "Zombicide" boardgame apparently contains no less than 87 models (or rather "game pieces) in its core box alone. So having bought the expansions too, I thought I'd best start cracking on with some of its contents.

"CoolMiniOrNot" WIPs - This Zombie Hulk has been primed, shaded and dry-brushed

Intriguingly, the base game actually sees the players cooperatively "control ravenous Zombie Heroes against the last remaining living Super Heroes", so I thought I'd start with something reasonably large and straightforward, such as the set's undead Incredible Hulk. I plan to follow the palette I used on my Marvel United Hulk last year, and then add plenty of flesh-rotting decay to Bruce Banner's grotesquely green alter-ego.

This clearly will be a lengthy endeavour, so I may well also use the models I paint for some simple tabletop games using some homemade rules. To that end I thought I'd grab one of the surviving heroes to paint too - in the shape of the Black Panther. The boxed set also comes with a dozen Bystanders, so to maintain something of a theme I may well try to squeeze both Betty Ross (Hulk's former wife) and Okoye (the head of Wakandan armed forces) into the mix too before the month is out...