It has been two weeks since my last update and I will blame my surgery for that. It really did a number on me. For the first couple of days after surgery I could barely sleep or eat. The pain was pretty high and I was completely dependent on my fiancee. On my birthday, things finally turned around and I started to get better slowly but surely. I’m thankfully now basically back to full strength and have been painting for much of this week. Being forced to take a break from painting definitely reminded me how much I love this hobby and it also made me thankful for the time I have to devote to it. I also want to say thank you to all of the well wishes. I saw many of them after my surgery when I really needed any encouragement I could find and so you have my gratitude!
With that said, this blog is not Battles In Surgery Earth so let’s talk MESBG! I’ve actually been a bit inspired by my good friend, Azazel, who runs a great site called Azazel’s Bit Box, and his dogged determination to clear out his unpainted miniature backlog. Some minis I own that have been sitting around for too long are the captured/paralyzed hobbits for Fog on Barrow Downs. The picture may not show it but I painted each one up so you can actually tell which hobbit is which. These simple sculpts are not time consuming to paint but after I painted the first, it was hard to find motivation to finish the rest. I bought these long out of print minis off eBay a while back because the inner modeler in me demanded that I own them before playing Fog on Barrow Downs! They perfectly represent what it would look like if a barrow wight captured a hobbit and I’m glad to have them done and ready to play that scenario sometime down the road.
Speaking of Barrow Downs, I painted Frodo before my surgery too. One of the reasons I painted him is that all I have are characters right now and I figured I might as well get another hobbit done. Surprisingly, he didn’t take long at all and I was pretty happy with how everything came together. I like how dynamic the Breaking of the Fellowship minis are as well. They are meant for Amon Hen but really could look good anywhere the Fellowship goes in the Fellowship of the Ring.
I also managed to get the toughest member of the Fellowship to paint done. Gimli just comes in unusual colors that don’t really match Games Workshop paints all that well. He also requires a lot of freehand on small surfaces to try and match his costume very closely. The freehand is so precise that I’m sure some of what I did could be a bit better but I’m still very pleased with how Gimli came out. I’m probably lucky to even have this mini as the one I got in my Breaking of the Fellowship order had a really weak axe that broke off a couple of months after receiving my order when I was getting it ready to be painted. I asked GW about getting it replaced and they did so. That is excellent customer service and I’m thankful to have this guy painted up and ready to hurl some axes.
Speaking of the Fellowship, here is a so-so picture of what I have done thus far. Not too shabby really, especially considering how much trouble I initially had with these sculpts. I think I’ve actually slowly but surely gotten better at painting them over time. I can’t wait to base these up like they’re at Amon Hen (except Gandalf of course) which I think will make them look even sharper. Only three more to be painted as well!
Painting up the Fellowship actually got me thinking, once they’re done, or even just the hobbits, there are a number of fun-looking Fellowship of the Rings scenarios that I can play if I want. Sure, there would be some terrain to make but compared to the amount of painting I have for An Unexpected Journey and the amount of terrain needed for Scouring of the Shire, it is worth keeping those scenarios in mind. Honestly, I think I’m in a bit of a hobbying no-man’s land where nothing I want to accomplish gaming wise is very close and I just have to keep at it until I get where I want to be. Having no immediately achievable goal is not sapping my will to paint or desire to hobby but I should probably make up my mind and get starting on something because my painting queue is literally all characters: Aragorn, Pippin, and Merry. Legolas, Tauriel, and Bard. And also the Goblin King. Other than the trees and hills I need to make for Eriador, that’s all I’ve got.
I’ve been meaning to pick up something, anything for a couple of weeks now and am somewhat paralyzed by indecision. I’m starting to lean towards more Goblin Town terrain as I can play multiple scenarios once I get enough terrain painted up but there are other options like more wargs or eagles. Heck, I could even get Uruk Hai and work towards an Amon Hen board. Surely, I’ll end up making my mind soon as I will need a break from painting characters in the near future.
That is enough existential crisis for now though. It is seriously great to be back and I look forward to resuming regular website updates for the foreseeable future 🙂
Kuribo's Painting 
Looking good, Good to hear you are recovering 👍
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Thank you! 🙂
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Glad you’re back at it, Kuribo! Your latest minis look lovely. I’m always astounded by the scope of the projects you’re working on!
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Thanks for the kind words, Toad! I probably take on more than I can chew at times but accomplishing something ambitious helps keep me motivated at the same time 🙂
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Good to read you’re recovering well and great work on those minis! Looking forward to whatever you choose to do next.
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Thanks Gero. I appreciate your support 🙂
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Further well wishes and glad that you’ve recovered enough to do some excellent painting. The Fellowship is looking great so far and the Gimli has really came out nicely. Excellent painting as usual. 😀
Hobby indecision? Who hasn’t been there. There’s only really two ways to go about it; either go for the project that is most achievable or the one that is the most exciting. Hobby bliss is when these are one in the same.
For what it’s worth, Amon Hen sounds awesome to me. 😀
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Thanks Stew! My apologies for such a slow response. What a crazy week it has been. I really appreciate the kind words on the painting. Frodo and Gimli make me as proud of anything I have painted recently.
I am slowly getting over my hobby malaise after a tough week but I will share a bit more on that on the site.
Amon Hen will be an awesome project to take on. I may need a break from making trees before I can do that (so I’m already having second doubts about tackling that in the near future). I do intend to get to it eventually though! 🙂
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It was good to hear that your surgery went well when I first read this post (a few weeks ago – but while I was out, and on my phone, so no comment then!) The sleepy-time hobbits look great, and I may need to scratch-build something similar when I get to the models for that scenario, though I really do need to pull my finger out and get a painted Fellowship before I do any other ME stuff.
As for goals, I guess my best advice would be to choose something and then list what you need for it. I’m (theoretically) painting the models for the FotR scenarios in (sort-of) order, and just assuming I’ll have the terrain (or close enough/figure it out later). I’d suggest doing the same – choose a scenario, or even two and then do two “streams” of hobby – one for terrain and one for models, and then work towards finishing both depending on time and mood….
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If you’re going to do Fog on Barrow Downs, having something like these Hobbit minis will add some character to it I think. Don’t beat yourself up too much on LOTR stuff though either. Do it when the mood strikes unless you’re planning or wanting to game soon 🙂
That is good advice on how to prioritize projects. I don’t seem to be able to solely focus on what is needed for a scenario unless it has a mix of minis and terrain to paint so that keeps me bouncing around on projects. I’m still a ways from being able to play anything but my motivation has been high lately and I know I’ll get there eventually which is the important thing 🙂
Thanks for the kind words on the surgery too. I’m really glad to have that behind me!
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Good to hear on the surgery mate – though I’d assumed all was well by now! I got my Gimli models out of the tub the other day and they’re now …on the desk. But it’s one step closer to me completing them at least!
The hardest part of painting the Fellowship models for me is the number of unique sculpts I own for each member – so naturally this means I want their clothing and gear colours to be consistent, which means painting them as a batch, which is much less fun than painting a single model, so it then becomes much easier to get distracted and have them shuffled off to the side…
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It was rough and I plan on never going under the knife again haha. That is fantastic news and I think you can paint the Fellowship not as a batch (I did not paint mine that way) but you don’t want to set aside too much time between minis so you forget how you painted them. I painted 1-2 then painted a couple of something else and then went back to it. That is just what works for me though and as we’ve talked about, I never have been able to batch paint and admire you for being able to do so.
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Yeah it just depends on how quickly you can get them done, but for me batch painting is something that can dramatically lessen inconsitencies between finished models – especially when you take as long to paint things as I do/can in terms of gaps in the same projects. And honestly, it’s not so bad when dealing with under 5 models as opposed to 10+. I’ve got four of the little dorf all sitting together, so once I clear a couple of “groups” (I’ve got foot knights, and then I want to finish a bunch of poxwalkers ASAP) then I’m tempted to finish the Gimlis. Let’s hope I can maintain that enthusiasm long enough to actually get ’em done!
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