With these minis, I've kinda finished the main stage of my LoTR; to have ~6 heroes, ~12 "special" troops, monsters or cavalry and ~50 regulars for each faction.
There are a few things I'd like to finish - Treebeard and a Balrog - and some things I'd like to get - various special troops which will be fun mini-projects - but they are more aspirational than strictly necessary (well, as I define it). I could probably also start another orc faction as I have ~100 orcs beyond the 50 or so I planned to paint, but I can now field an interesting force for all the LoTR factions; at a guess I've probably got ~500 minis or so painted in total.
The 16 minis take my LoTR total to 26 for 2023. I've always found them easy to paint; simplistic, realistic scale (no potato faces and giant fists) yet detailed enough to be interesting.
The central three figures are not official LoTR, instead Helldorado(?) but I'm proxying him for the Golden King of Azkahuni or whatever with bodyguard, and the geni will serve as a locale-specific ringwraith.
The Rohan heroes have been sitting on my workbench for quite a while.
I decided I couldn't do them justice, so just focussed on making them table-ready. They could do with more shading and highlighting for sure...
I have several spare Eomers, so I modified one with a shield and a Gripping Beast viking axe. He'll serve as a generic captain of the Royal Guard. A pity I don't live somewhere like UK as I reckon I could trade my spares to fill in gaps elsewhere. I don't think I've ever seen LoTR played locally and it has only recently appeared in the local games shop.
My daughter also did a bit of painting - these are her first 28mm. She always loves 'girls' - and will dig through my boxes looking for female minis which are pretty under-represented, I do admit. I'd like to find some cheap female heads, as I'd prefer to convert normal male minis for her rather than have a constant stream of short skirts and chainmail bikinis which seems to be the majority of what is on offer.
I've found some Privateer Press Warmahordes which will be my next project I think, but I'll be doing a deep dive into the unpainted lead mountain looking for interesting projects. My son is nudging me towards 1:2400 ships and I also have some pirates and French-Indian war troops laying out. But then there are Imperialis Aeronautica and Dropfleet vessels sitting looking reproachfully at me...
North Star miniatures for Stargrave and Frostgrave have good female sculpt boxes. They might be up your daughters alley.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Frostgrave ideas. The female barbarians may be a bit too 'butch' but there are quite a few good magicians etc.
DeleteFemale minis that aren't overtly "sexy" are pretty rare. Fortunately, you have Dwarves. According to the old lore, there's precious little difference in outward appearance between male and female Dwarves. Compared to males, female Dwarves are of marginally smaller stature, but no less robust or sturdy of frame; blessed with somewhat more thicker and luxurious hair, but somewhat finer & silkier beards. In other words, any short(er)-bearded Dwarf miniature can be considered female instead of juvenile, simply because there's precious little visual difference between the two. It's said that even Dwarves themselves often don't know until the armor comes off... :D
ReplyDeleteWell, she likes them to look girly, i.e. I think she painted sword hilts as pigtails on a model above on purpose. Skirts and leather assassin suits are fine - she raises an eyebrow at them showing their knickers though. They must look girly, practical, and wield cool weapons, I think was the criteria.
ReplyDeleteSadly, dwarves will not be a success, given her complete disinterest in customizing the beard of her dwarves in Deep Rock Galactic.....
The preference for 'girly' models is understandable.
DeleteHave you looked at inexpensive models like Necromunda Escher and/or Mordheim Sisters of Sigmar? Bertha Bestraufung is a huge favorite of mine, along with the Vampire Countess Assassin.
Have you tried Bad Squiddo Games - Annie makes lots of female figures with a policy of avoiding the stereotypes and making realistic women warriors.
ReplyDeleteStephen [I alos have a daughter who collects miniatures]
My wife and daughter run into the same issue.
ReplyDeleteReaper Bones and Wizkids have cheap figures, some decent sculpts, and are relatively inexpensive.