Jomada - Adventures in Middle-earth

Welcome to Jomada - Adventures in Middle-earth! 

The Hobbit has hit the theatres, GW has rebooted the LotR/Hobbit SBG, and this year's Bonnheim Convention has shown once more, how much fun wargaming in Middle-earth can be. These were only three of many good reasons that led HVM, MarcK and me to the decision to combine our individual Middle-earth themed projects into one shiny new blog. On Jomada you will find showcases of our miniatures and armies, WIP shots of our latest projects, helpful tutorials, tips & tricks around the hobby and much much more. We want to lure you into the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, the man without whom our hobby career maybe never would have started.

Of course, the FINiatures blog will not be deserted because of this. It will live on and will be fed with all those non-Tolkien-related wargaming projects I have, but all the future Middle-earth content will move to Jomada.

Feel welcome to visit us at Jomada and please leave a comment if you have any helpful suggestions or ideas how we could improve the blog. I'm really exited!

On the Horizon...

Hungarian Archers

The Hungarians are upon us!

I recently finished these Hungarian riders. Ebob has sculpted these beautiful miniatures in commission for Tankred who will make them available via Heer46 in the near future. Ebob's sculpts are (as always) incredibly beautiful. As I've heard there will be a pack of 16 riders in the end.

More information on the Hungarians can be found in the German Sweetwater Forums.

 

Although I painted the miniatures in historical fashion, I probably won't use them in historical context. As all of Ebob's works, the Hungarian match perfectly with the LotR scale. For me, these miniatures seem perfectly fit to represent an Easterling tribe. Maybe I'll use them as Khand mercenaries or even mercenaries in service of the merchants of the city of Dale. If GW's SBG rules don't provide me with a fitting profile, the SAGA rules probably will...

Ebob Normans

Just took a picture of my latest purchase...

Ebob Miniatures has released some awesome Norman infantry. I immediatly had to get some copies of these and ordered all 16 of it. Indeed I am totally amazed. In my eyes, these are some of the greatest sculpts I have seen from Robert so far.

Although my first idea was to paint them as Night's Watch for ASoIaF wargames, these would look great amongst GW's LotR/The Hobbit miniatures as well. I already have some ideas in mind and will hopefully be able to show you the first results in some days. The comparison shot shows that they perfectly blend with the LotR/Hobbit range.

"Kauzenburg" 2013 - An Unexpected Journey

As every year, I attended this year's "Kauzenburg Convention", last weekend. "Kauzenburg" is a German Wargaming Convention hosted by members of the biggest german LotR-tabletop community. Actually this year's event  had to be relocated, so I shouldn't call it "Kauzenburg" anymore (it originally took place in a local castle) but old habits die hard.
The new title should be: LotR Wargaming Convention at Bonnheimer Hof 2013.

I forgot to take any pictures but luckily Tankred of tabletop-hdr.de wrote this great article:

Bericht vom HdR Tabletoptreffen 2013 im Bonnheimer Hof

The article is in German but the many pictures might speak for themselves. Inspiring tables, armies and a lot of fun (which we probably can't reproduce digitally, I'm sorry...). You will notice that although it is a LotR based event it is not restricted to this system! It's one of those homely events were people can bring and play anything they want.

And down down to Goblin-town...

"Slash them! Beat them! Bite them! Gnash them! Take them away to dark holes full of snakes, and never let them see the light again!"

J.R.R.Tolkien, The Hobbit

I finished some more of the "Escape from Goblin Town"-goblins. I really enjoyed painting each of them in an "individual" colour scheme. What I wouldn't have believed from the official GW paint jobs: These models have a lot of character!!!

Since most of the miniature is skin they can be finished pretty quickly. Perhaps I should avoid the brighter skintone in the future, but I really liked the ragtag look of these guys. You should always have in mind that these goblins are more like bandits and not a regular army. They shouldn't be uniformed.

One thing I missed in the movie was that Jackson's goblins never seemed to pose a real threat to Thorin's company. I tried to change that by adding some blood to their weapons... They should at least seem like they could deal any damage. Again, I used Tamiya Clear Red for the blood. I really like that stuff although it smells deadly.

The bases were kept simple... Just rocks with some sparse grass. Some of them got some plankwork as a reference to Goblin-town but I didn't went to fancy here. Since the goblin horde will end up rather colourful, I will need the bases as a contrast.

I really hope you like the pictures and maybe I could change your opinion about the new goblin models. They may be some of the best plastic miniatures I had for LotR up to now...

Over Hill and Under Hill

Clap! Snap! the black crack!

Grip, grab! Pinch, nab!

And down down to Goblin-town

You go, my lad!

New year, new project? Yeah, kind of... I was pretty sure I wouldn't withstand the new Hobbit merchandise for too long although I did not like the new Goblin design in "The Hobbit". Nevertheless, HvM's great A Dwarf A Day project talked me into buying the new starter box as well... 

Now I'm distracting myself from doing something useful in search of a nice new colour scheme for those nasty goblins. Actually most of the miniatures are really great (if you can live with those un-orcish mutations...). The quality of the cast really surprised me and I'm pretty confident that they could be a great addition for any Middle-earth based LotR, SAGA or Impetus army.

Well, here is what I tried so far. Please excuse the bad quality of the pic. Had to take it with a smartphone...