With Eomer done, I was looking for something to paint that was a “quick win” as people like to say in the business world. I wanted to paint more frogs for Hellboy but I didn’t have the paint I needed, so instead I chose to paint my second and final Protectron from the Protectron and Assaultron box. I did some research and I couldn’t find many alternate color schemes to the one I had already painted so I went ahead and painted the only other color I could find for a basic Protectron. Since you saw this sculpt not too long ago, I figured why not take a few scenic shots using a bit of terrain!
Its a bright color that certainly pops in the wasteland! I don’t know that I chose the right mini to paint this week as I was impatient and not in the mood to carefully pick out all of the details on this robot but paint it I did and I’m glad to have it done. I did a bit of research and while I thought that having two Protectrons was enough to play a scenario that features the Protectrons. I was wrong and it looks like I’ll need at least two more. That was a bit deflating to discover but I’ll get there with time. Here’s a look at the two together, patrolling the wasteland for potential threats.
While it is old news now, I did want to share my excitement for what GW unveiled for MESBG in what has otherwise been a slow week. For me, the highlights were the following:
While Glorfindel on top is the more exciting mini of the two for me, I think Elrond also looks great and the level of detail on these minis is outstanding when compared to the old ones. The mounted versions look perfect for some kind of display project so don’t be surprised if you see me paint one or both of these in the future. I also really like Elrond’s banner bearer which has a nice amount of detail. I can’t tell if the flag has those details sculpted on the flag (which would be ideal) or if that is freehand but that could also be one I paint down the road.
Unfortunately, the remaining elves aren’t as high quality and were a little underwhelming to me. Maybe they just need a better paint job, but I can’t really say unless I see them in-hand. While I won’t discuss them too much since I don’t play MESBG actively any longer, the battlehost boxes are great for the game and will make it easy for new players to jump in. The new starter set looks great to me and I really like to see the rangers getting high quality sculpts. Faramir, in particular, is one of my favorite Lord of the Rings characters and he’s never had any high quality sculpts so I may be compelled to buy and paint him in the future for that reason alone. He’s the one in the middle for those of you who don’t know LOTR well.
Overall, I think Games Workshop is doing right by Middle Earth in the sense that they’re releasing really high quality sculpts which improve upon the old models quite a bit. I anticipate painting a lot more display pieces in this space as I enjoy LOTR and The Hobbit more than either Warhammer. I mostly paint Warhammer stuff that makes me nostalgic from when I was interested in it in high school and most of the newer stuff doesn’t do much for me. So when I’m not doing gaming minis and terrain like this week, I’ll likely be creating in Tolkien’s world for the foreseeable future.
Kuribo's Painting 
Very nice work on the figure and the weathering looks great. Looks like you’ve found something new to sink your teeth into as well. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheers, TIM! I had to dial down the weathering a bit so I’m glad to hear you think it came out well. And yeah, these darn mini manufacturers will never give me any peace and quiet with all of the appealing products they keep making 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just get giddy seeing your excellent Protectrons. Jealous! GW has impressed me to some degree with their latest news. Better than I was expecting, not as cool as I hoped. I think the mounted Elrond has a better face sculpt than the one on foot but overall all the new sculpts look nice, particularly the Faramir. I was hoping for new plastic sets to replace the old line infantry sculpts. Oh well….I look forward to seeing to seeing you bring these figures to life in the future mate!
LikeLiked by 3 people
You’re too kind, mate! I’m glad it brought you some joy too as I was over painting it by the time I was halfway through haha.
I agree that the face sculpts are a bit uneven on Elrond which is a shame but all of these minis are big upgrades on the metal and plastic ones they’re replacing so we can’t complain! You may already know this but many MESBG players want GW to redo their plastic troops and it sounds like the game doesn’t sell enough to justify it currently. Maybe that will change one day which would be fantastic but this topic comes up a lot among fans and many agree with you, including me!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Much as I worry that the Amazon Prime Middle Earth show will be a disaster, I keep hoping it will be a great success and help get more folks playing games with Middle Earth miniatures…. and then GW decides to make more, new sculpts.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It could really go either way, I’m afraid. I want to believe that it will be good because LOTR is starting to emerge as the one franchise that hasn’t been overused in the way that Star Wars and Marvel are currently. Truthfully, its also emerging as my favorite setting of the pack again as a result of that.
I’d love to see more miniatures and content from Tolkien’s world, but only if it is good!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear you mate. Given how good LOTR was and how bad the Hobbit was, compared to how good Game of Thrones was when it started to how bad it was when it ended… I really feel like this could go either way. The visuals look good in the trailers so atleast we should get some good inspiration for painting minis and building terrain.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I couldn’t agree more with what you’re saying. Rings of Power is definitely a big risk and could go many different ways. Unlike a lot of shows, I may actually try to catch it as it comes out or at least give a couple of episodes a try when it comes out in Sept. since its on Amazon and I have Prime. It will be nice to feel like rabbit and not the turtle for once 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice to see another Protectron and both against a scenic background! 🙂 I like both colours! If you get another two, will you try and paint them in different colours again or do you think you might duplicate the colours? I can imagine a rust-coloured one and a grey one would fit well with these two and if you can’t find much info on the colours then you can’t be wrong! Nice looking Middle Earth minis coming out!
LikeLiked by 5 people
I was thinking yellow/orange, but then Sir Johns comment got me thinking because his color suggestion struck me as matching better. The game has a 50s SciFi vibe, so I did a quick search and found this palette which might work well: https://www.color-hex.com/color-palette/66925
LikeLiked by 4 people
Now that is a color palette! I wasn’t thinking about colors that bright but there’s no reason that I couldn’t go in that direction with a liberal amount of rust applied. I would have never thought of these colors so thank you for the suggestion, sir! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sure thing, I doubt I would have ever thought of them on my own either. Thankfully there are smarter people than me, who have shared a lot of color palettes online! 😀
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, John and I figured why not spice it up by getting some terrain out too 🙂 I feel confident in saying that I won’t duplicate the colors for future Protectrons. I don’t think there’s any reason why the robots couldn’t be in other paint colors as in the Fallout world they were sold to be security in places like store or a factory. I like your color suggestions and might just take you up on them once I see about getting a couple more! 😀
LikeLiked by 4 people
Very cool! Love the light blue with the rust, that’s a nice combo. The “in-universe” shots came out real nice too, I should do more of those.
Also excited about the new middle earth releases, the new plastic characters have been fantastic so far.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Nic! Truthfully, its a bit of a pain to get out all of the terrain to take pictures like this but it is fun to set it all up and see what you can come up with at the same time. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one excited about the new MESBG sculpts as well! That could be a nice break from Skaven for you, in fact 😀
LikeLiked by 3 people
Excellent work on the Protectron Jeff, the two look great together wandering through the wasteland, shame about needing two more for the scenario, like John interested to see what colours you go for, like Johns idea of a really rusty one.
The sculpts of the LOTR have come a long way from where they started, and look forward to seeing what you do with them.
Did you say scenery ?
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thanks, Dave! I will definitely go in a different direction than these two, if nothing else, just to make painting interesting. You’re spot on about the improvements in technology with LOTR too. Some of these replace metal sculpts that came out 20 years ago and there is no competition that the newer is better. I did say scenery but I don’t know that you can expect anymore until after this month concludes unfortunately. Never say never though!
LikeLiked by 3 people
A win is a win as they say. But I think the robot looks pretty cool even if you rushed it. The scenery does add to the photo.
I have all the LoTR stuff I probably need so I didn’t notice when new stuff came out. But for me; GW is definitely making some fine miniatures but they’re beyond my painting ability and I get turned off by miniatures with super fine details everywhere. Because I can only do easy wins. 😀
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks for the kind words on the painting and any time you get something done that will help you game in the future, that is a win in my book.
I was going to mention that LOTR minis like Glorfindel are shifting towards Warhammer where you need to be able to paint intricate details if you want really unlock the mini’s full painting potential which is great for me but terrible for tabletop standard painters. LOTR has been a haven for tabletop painting since many of the minis don’t have too many details but I think that has changed in the last couple of years and there probably is no going back now for GW either I would think but only time will tell.
LikeLike
Seeing these really takes me back to late nights at the computer screen. Well, I still do late nights at the computer screen but that’s for work now! 😵 I think that color choice was spot on for a 50s SciFi vibe and looking forward to see what else you come up with. 😃
LikeLiked by 5 people
Thank you, Faust! There should be some cool opportunities for custom paint colors and schemes as I build out my Fallout collection more. Between the power armor and robots, there are quite a few things that have a lot of painting options and I look forward to exploring them in the future! 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Amusing post title there! The new model (and the old one for that matter) looks great, and the worn colours do work very well for the Fallout universe. They do combine very nicely in the visual with the tracks and containers.
LikeLiked by 5 people
Cheers, mate and I do what I can with the titles anyway 🙂 It was nice to get out some scenery and take photos with them though its a reminder that I have a long way to go on scenery at the same time! A wargamer’s work is never finished…
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice job with the rust as usual, you don’t get to use that technique much with Middle Earth 😁
Honesty can’t see myself buying any of the new figures or sets. I’m with Stewart, the details on the new figures are too fine for me to paint. I see the new mesbg battlehosts sets as a way for GW to consolidate their inventory and make it easier for stores. Still wonder if the GW stores will sell them though. The only thing in the new starter set that interests me is the new Osgiliath scenery, but I don’t understand why they changed the details from the older set. Hopefully they will sell the scenery separately.
LikeLiked by 3 people
That is very true about rust. I think Moria goblins are one of the few forces in Middle Earth who use rusty stuff though I’m sure I’m missing someone else.
I know what you mean about the intricate nature of the new minis. Elrond isn’t as bad as Glorfindel but they aren’t tabletop painting friendly either.
GW really needs to find a way to get more Middle Earth stuff in their stores. Its not good for the game and it is dumbfounding that in their own stores they can’t be bothered to have more than a starter set in stock. My brother was in Paris for work and offered to stop in to a GW store near where he was staying just to see what they had in stock and he was surprised that MESBG is basically non-existent there, where I was not. With my complaining out of the way, I’d love to see what you do with the Osgiliath terrain and I’m glad they’re re-releasing it too. I’d like to see them add a bigger piece or two to what is coming in the starter set but that might be asking for too much on my part.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Protectron looks great, that colour really works well on it. The scenic shots look super too, your next Fallout battle report will be a visual masterpiece I reckon!
We seem to be in agreement regarding the LotR reveals as well, Glorfindel and Elrond are the standouts for me, the other elves didn’t really make a big impression. The three humans are alright, although I’m a bit uncertain about the guy on the right – what’s up with his forehead? He appears to have suffered a really nasty head-wound (which doesn’t seem to be slowing him down to be fair) but it looks really out of place – the sort of thing you’d associate with Nurgle, the undead or perhaps some frothing berserker rather than the men of Gondor. I can’t place the character though so maybe it’s a nod to the books/films that I’m forgetting. Speaking of characters that have taken a knock to the head Gothmog is outstanding, especially mounted on the warg – they really are hitting these character models out of the park at the moment.
Interesting that they’re doing a two-week pre-order window, 3 months ahead of the boxset’s release, for something that I thought was going to be a mainline item – especially as almost everything in the box 20 years old. Do they really expect it to be that popular? Are they assuming that the Amazon show will be a big hit (in which case, from everything I’ve heard, I suspect they’ll be disappointed…). Is this them trying to protect themselves against the effects of the economic downturn and the collapse of international shipping? I suspect its the latter but who knows, if its the former then a resurgence of LotR can only be a good thing – bringing in lots of new people to the hobby as it did last time and maybe even inspiring GW to sculpt some new line infantry to replace those old kits (we can always dream right!)
LikeLiked by 5 people
Thanks, mate! I do hope to get another battle report done sometime soon. I have some exciting terrain plans to work on soonish too.
The injured ranger is weird to me too. I don’t like how they painted his forehead but more significantly, I don’t know why they chose to make it as “gorey” as they did either. Its a strange decision all around! Gothmog does look good too. His older sculpts are lacking in detail and I think the new ones show how evil and weird he looks which I approve of.
I didn’t realize there was such a long run-up to the release of the starter set. It does seem odd and I don’t know how popular the set will be. I haven’t looked into it too much but I’m a little skeptical that the new box is a great value. The Pelennor Fields box gives you a lot more minis for the money (though that comes with its own downsides like having to paint them all) but the factions are obviously different with each starter box and I think you get more terrain with this new set (which is pretty important and a challenging part of LOTR, in my opinion).
If GW can make new infantry, I think it would go a long way towards showing they are committed to keeping the game going for another ten or twenty years. Right now, it seems like they’re dipping their toes in the water but aren’t ready to fully commit to me. I just hope they keep giving us awesome looking character pieces as those are what I’m mostly looking to paint as someone who doesn’t play the game any longer.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Nice work on the robot and that scene is certainly looking perfect for fall out!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Cheers, mate! That’s exactly what I hope to achieve so I’m thrilled to hear you think so 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great painting on both these, Jeff! I love the colours, they’re almost 1950s shades which suit their look, and the weathering is perfect!
LikeLiked by 5 people
Thank you, Matt! They definitely capture the retro feel of Fallout and I’m glad that you like them 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m no expert but I have to agree with Matt!
LikeLiked by 3 people
Super panting, they really evoke the computer game versions. I especially like the contrast between the shiny faceplate and the grubby chassis.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cheers, mate! I always strive for realism so I’m glad to hear you think these look like they do in Fallout 4! 🙂
LikeLike