Finshed Games Workshop Lord of the Rings SBG Balrog of Moria

Just a quick update... I think the Balrog of Moria is as finished as it is ever going to get...... It was a long time coming and a hard road to walk, but with the advice of others, I have finally gotten it to the point I am happy to game with....

 I went back and added yellow highlights to both the larger areas of red and the edges of some of the black "scales". I am happy with the final effect, but still keep thinking it could be better... I could do it better....

 

 I like the way the fire blended. I wet blended the orange, red and yellow and then went back when it dried to add solid coloring on the highlights. As I mentioned before, all colors were from GW except the steel which was used for the broken dwarven axe on the base. It was the IWM I really like using. I also went in and added a single piece/plug of Armory static grass.

 

I think in retrospect, the hardest part of this whole model was the forearms... trying to get the red from the fire and black from the scales blended over each other was an absolute nightmare. There was no clear cut separation between where the two colors should/could.. would eventually go.

 Above, the picture on the right is the model after a nice, heavy coat of matt varnish was applied... I did this as it gave the model that bright shine I was looking for.. not necessarily a gloss finish, but it brought out the colors from flat to what I would say is "just right"...


All in all, I am happy, but know I could do a bit more.... perhaps I might go back someday, but I highly doubt it. I have far too much un-painted lead, plastic and resin from so many other games! I will call this finished and done nicely... it is definitely a very high quality table top standard... I don't tend to go much beyond that as I want to get on to more painting or perhaps... maybe... even playing....

Up next... another quick bit of low hanging fruit! I currently have 6 wargs and 5 warg riders.... (both GW plastic sets).. there used to be 6 riders, but I have no idea what happened to the 6th... anyway, this works out as my OCD will not allow me to ever play an odd number of figures..... So, to wrap up the Isengard mounted force, I have 6 more wargs and the GW LOTR Warg Attack box set to complete.... The six plastic wargs will give me an even number of 12 to work with and the Warg Attack box set comes with Sharku, 2 mounted orcs, mounted Aragorn and mounted Théoden.... The warg riders are armed with a sword (Sharku) and then a spear and bow armed orc. These 3 and my 5 will give me 8....


I assembled, based and primed both box sets. The plastic warg set was gotten second hand and didn't have any riders. If it did, I would have added in at least 2 more warg riders.... alas it didn't.. they all will be painted as wild wargs or dismounted steeds. This kit is very nice and went together very well. The Warg Attack box set... not so much... all were lead models and a bit fidgety. It wasn't so much the assembly and, it could have been my glue... but getting them to stay affixed to the base took some effort. Otherwise, the models themselves went together very nicely... there were few if any gaps and they are all small enough so as to not require any greenstuff or filler. As for paint, I will be following the same color scheme I used so many years ago on my other riders and wargs. I'll set Aragorn and Théoden aside for now.