Gandalf casting spell - Mithril M289 (1993)

There's not much to say about this miniature. It's simply great. Great, great, great. Plus, it's Gandalf, one of the coolest characters in fiction.

 

This is the second Gandalf miniature I paint, at least from Mithril. The first one is lost in the mists of time. See for yourself, if you think my skills have improved:

 

2021 vs 1997-ish

I am actually pretty happy with this one. Definitely one of my ten best so far. I am learning to play with that grey.

Mithril Mordor Orcs - M151, M310

I have been quite hyped with Middle-earth lately, possibly as a consequence of the new TOR RPG Kickstarter, and I decided to dig up some baddies from the Mithril leadpile. So here we are with these Mordor Orcs: M151 from 1990 ("Mordor Orcs") and M310 from 1993 ("Mordor Orc Standard Bearer").

I went for a simple paint-job: dark brown skin-tone, black and tan clothes, black leather and iron armour and weapons. I added a bit of bronze/brass here and there, and a red eye painted on the standard. Overall I am pretty pleased with the result, considering the effort - Orcs do not require too much detail after all.

Mithril M132 Bard of Esgaroth (1990)

Bard of Esgaroth. First sculpt of this character by Mithril, in 1990. Solid figure, in quite a theatrical pose: not really suited to be used as a playing piece, but easily associated with the topical moment of Bard's life - when he shoots the Dragon.

I always liked Bard, since my first reading of the Hobbit. There is something fresh with him, that being essentially an anti-hero, a stern man with a coarse voice, whose grim advice goes unheeded by the people until the moment of need, when he turns into a real hero, a Dragonslayer and then a true king, not only by blood but also by merit. Like Bilbo, he was underestimated by all, and possibly by the reader too, which makes his rise even more surprising.

He's been variously portrayed in graphic arts: 

A perpetually angry archer by M. Belomlinsky (1976)

A scruffy looking man from the animated Rankin/Bass animated movie (1977)

A determined warrior in the Dixon graphic novel (1998)

 

A bewildered vagrant by Denis Gordeev (200?)

 

A handsome single father in PJ's movie trilogy (2012-2014)

 

Say what you want, Belomlinsky's Bard is my absolute favourite, by far. Here's mine, a sand-blonde fellow with yellow, black and brown clothing, aiming his longbow high to shoot the Dragon.

Mithril M15 Northman Scout (1988)

 

This is a nice miniature, even by Mithril's excellent standards. It belongs to what I consider the height of Mithril Miniatures and of Chris Tubb's sculpting skills. It was nice to paint, too - to be honest, the pictures don't do justice to the paintjob, which is better than my average.

I experimented a bit with trimming on clothes, and I think it came out nicely. For the inspiration I have to thank the many historical re-enactors that create awareness about High Middle Ages on Instagram.

Gamling the Old - Mithril LT5 (2002)

This is a nice little miniature, which has only one fault: it lacks a shield. The rest is both beautiful and fun to paint. Chris Tubb deserves a good praise for this 2002 sculpt.

Gamling is an interesting character in LotR: he is an old man, leader of the warriors Erkenbrand left as a garrison of Helm's Deep. He seems to be a veteran of considerable age, but if his body is weakened by senility, his mind and heart are still strong, as he shows in many occasions when he leads the defenders against the forces of Isengard. He survives the battle and nothing is said about his again, so we must assume he dies of old age. He is a minor character, but one of those memorable enough to deserve remembering.

Not many depictions exists of him. By far the best I know is from Angus McBride:

"If they come to bargain for our goods at Helm's Gate, they will pay a high price,"

Bakshi's animated movie ignores him as a character, and PJ's movies have him as a generic warrior guy:

"I'm actually fourty-five."

I liked the idea of Gamling being a sort of Castellan of Helm's Deep, a vicecomes to Erkenbrand, so he would have a nice uniform even though he would not be heavily armed. I painted him in green and red, with a black leather jerkin and a white cloak. Incidentally his cloak came out really nice, and it might well be the second coat I paint that I don't hate. Good stuff.

I think my Rohan force is coming up well. I might even be able to play a mini-skirmish sometimes.

"Forth, Helmingas!"

Haldir Rhovanion, Grey Elf Warden - MM383 (1998) conversion

This is a special mini for me, one of the rare conversions I do, designed to represent my favourite home-made character in Middle-earth. Born as the main character of a short story I wrote as a school assignment at 14, developed into a player character in a game of MERP, and again resurrected, updated and polished in many other stories and games.

Haldir son of Handir, also called Rhovanion, is an Elf of the Grey Havens. Like many inhabitants of Mithlond he has mixed heritage, claiming ancestors in Doriath, Gondolin and the Falas, but he identifies as Sinda. Originally a border warden, he left service in Mithlond after failing to prevent an Orc raid into Elf-lands that claimed many lives, among them his bethroted Aerin. After a period of wandering, overcome with sorrow and sense of failure, he was saved by a wandering company of Elves in the Shire and was directed to seek the counsel of Elrond Half-elven who could make sense of some obscure dreams and visions he had been having. The Lord of Imladris suggested that those dreams of the fall of Gondolin, and darkness, a sword shining of blue light meant that Haldir might yet have a destiny to fulfil in Middle-earth and invited him to enter his service as a warden.

Let's now address the elephant in the room - why am I using the miniature of a Man to represent an Elf? I'll answer with a controversial statement: although Chris Tubb is possibly my favourite miniature sculptor, his male Elves are dull. They are too feminine (mostly), they all have long hair (not my vision), and they are usually dressed either in long robes or very simple tunics. I needed a warden, the Elf equivalent of a Ranger, and here it is. Mithril Miniatures, can you make an Elf equipped for ranging? Thank you.

Mithril M511 Rohir warrior with quilted armour and sword (2009)

Too long I have been painting static Mithril miniatures representing book characters or travellers, and I needed a diversion: a proper armed hero that could be used in any tabletop game. I rummaged through my two cartons of unpainted, still blistered Mithril miniatures (my source of shame) to find this: the 2009 Rohir warrior with quilted armour, sword and shield.

Boy, I needed this. The detail isn't extreme - it doesn't reach the glory of 1980s-90s issues - but it's still ok. The pose is also likeable: it certainly has character. It represents well a warrior inciting his companions to fight.

The sculpt is part of the Helm's Deep Part 1 series, called Gamling's Rally. I enjoyed painting it, although if I could go back I would change the red of the tunic (Vallejo Model Color Burnst Cad. Red), which is too glossy for my taste. On the other hand, I'm very happy with the glaze transition of the shield: that's the green I was looking for.

Citadel ME34 Merry Brandibuck (1986)

Between 1985 and 1987 Citadel developed a Lord of the Rings range, and this little fellow is Merry Brandybuck from the ME-34 Hobbits of The Shire blister. I am not sure about the sculptor - could be Perrys by the looks.

It's really a nice figure and I enjoyed very much painting it, until the last steps. After doing the eyes and the metal highlights, for some reason I started to hate it. It kind of lost its charm. Can't tell why - perhaps the bolts on the jerkin are too bright, perhaps the sword, which I tried to faithfully represent (metal sword with red and golden snakes damasqued on the blade), is not so great, perhaps the eyes look a bit dull. I just don't like it anymore - any suggestion to fix it is welcome. Maybe with just a little bit of detail I can improve him dramatically.

Mithril MM 182 Mannish Captain of Orthanc, painted as an Angmar Captain

Another sculpt bought from a fellow collector, a 1991Mannish Captain of Orthanc. The figure was a bit worn out - the tips of the helm are flattened - but I didn't mind too much. Overall the quality of sculpting is very high - there's only a minor glitch, namely an empty scabbard and no sword in it or anywhere else. If I were to do a diorama, it would be great to have a sword stuck in the ground, like he is negotiating a truce or about to start a duel.

I am not a great fan of Isengard, it never really appealed me, so I painted this guy with the colours of Angmar - grey-black like the northern Misty Mountains, and red like the colour of iron-rich stone, associated with Carn-dûm.

Not my best paintjob, but still ok I believe.

Theoden, King of the Mark - Mithril M27 (1988)

 

Theoden, King of the Mark is one of the earliest miniatures of the Mithril range, from 1988. It has a nice, fixed pose that is typical of that period when casting was not so advanced and miniatures were simple and solid. It's a nice sculpt - albeit the one I have is second hand and a bit worn out.

Theoden is one of the most popular characters in the Lord of the Rings. He plays a clear archetype, the King: he represents authority, and is often used to display how power can be used for good, when wisdom helps to wield it, or how power can be a burden and ultimately be useless, when justice abandons it in favour of fear.

The story of Theoden is simple, yet great: as a King, he finds himself to rule in a time of great challenges that wear out his spirit, until he becomes the shadow of himself. Because of the dangers, the defeats and the lack of support from his councillors, Theoden grows old and enters a "Winter of the Spirit", from which he is stirred by the unexpected visit of Gandalf. Realizing his mistakes, Theoden casts aside his fears and rides to war against the enemies of his people. He will lead his warriors in a great battle where he will die bravely, after defeating the enemy general. His sacrifice and example will help shape the future world.

If this story seems to touch some special strings in your soul, its' probably because this is the same story as the one of another archetypical King, King Arthur, who is stirred from his Winter by Percival carrying the Holy Grail and rides one last time with his knights against Mordred, to kill him and be killed in turn.
 

And yet once again, Boorman's Excalibur proves to be the best Middle-earth adaptation of all. Not looking at anyone in particular...

Let's look at the other adaptations of Theoden, shall we?

Bakshi's LotR (1978)

The Brothers Hildebrant (1978)

"Theoden Espies the Serpent Banner" by Michael Kaluta (1994)

Angus McBride (mid 1990s)

"Theoden's charge at Helm's Deep" by Timothy Ide (1997)

Ivan Cavini (2006)

"The Ride of the Rohirrim" by Abe Papakhian (2010)

Helena Starostina (2012)

Theoden is described as having a flowing white beard reaching down to his knees (when he is seated and bent), long white hair gathered in great braids and blue, glinting eyes. Although he may look "almost like a dwarf" when he is presented, after he is freed by his fears he appears to be tall and proud.

Now, I am not 100% satisfied with my painting this time - I have tried to portray Theoden as a bright figure, dressed in colourful clothes as befitted an early medieval Saxon king. They are perhaps too bright... especially the green of the robes: what do you think? I am quite happy with the hair and the crown, though, and I am definitely imrpoving in painting yellow, one of the most difficult colours for me.