"Lord of the Rings 10mm" Topic

I game Lord of the Rings in 10mm using Copplestone and GW miniatures and I paint them to look like the characters in Lord of the Rings film. However, i am struggling to find good miniatures to represent the forces of Gondor.

Does anyone have a good suggestion?

Thanks for your help.

DBase

10mm Byzantines?

I would probably use Pendraken Miniatures new Late Roman range. They are some of the nicest looking 10mm figures I have ever seen. With the right paintjob they would look the part in my opinion.

Here is a link to the sculptors pictures of them painted as Late Romans, Just imagine what they would look like in the colours of Gondor.

link

and the link Pendraken. The Late Romans are at the bottom of the page.

link

Here is a link of some really big pictures of them.

link

Not meaning to get off topic but, I never get tired of looking at those photos, simply amazing paint job added to amazing sculpting! Hope the fellow doing the sculpting keeps at it.

DBAse Please let us know what you end up with.

I asked the same thing here a little while ago:

TMP link

Unfortunately, I ultimately gave up the search for the "perfect" match. The closest I came was the Warmaster Bretonnian Men-At-Arms and Archers, but I haven't painted them up yet.

Also, check out the BoFA forum over at TLA when you get a chance. I have a number of threads devoted to 10mm Tolkien going right now that may be of interest to you.

Hope that helps, sore ja,

Le Chat

I found this which might interest anyone looking for suitable 10mm Gondor figures. I still like the Pendraken Late Romans myself, but this list has other substitutes that look pretty good.

link

If you are looking for Gondor that is somewhat close to the movies, then you will probably need to go with 100 years war figs, or the Bretonians from Warmaster. Nothing will match quite right though.

It seems as though many people have opted for GW Warmaster Bretonians. But i was thinking the GW warmaster high elves might be better? They have a more tapered helmet and a more similar shield. Any thoughts?

I see the similarity and think they would work, but:

1) feathers
2) skirts
3) no swordmen

The first two have always driven me crazy about the GW high elves, and are enough reason (for me, at least) to avoid them. You could probably just cut the feather off those models with them, but you can't do anything about the skirt. Seems like a lot of work just to make them match the film Gondorians.

That being said, I am still keeping my eyes open for something that matches well. I have the same passion for 10mm Tolkien that you do.

De wa,

Le Chat

Eventually, I plan on doing a few 10mm armies…

But, since I have spent about $2,000 USD on around $5,000 USD worth of GW LotR stuff…

It seems kind of pointless to go back to 10mm when I will have armies with almost as many figures in them at 28mm… My Moria Goblin Army has 400 – 600 Figures, including many old Ral Partha "Wolf-Riders", considering the Goblins were supposed to be riding wolves and not Wargs… I am a firm believer in the Warg as being the Andrewsarchus Mongoliensis, which could be ridden by a man-sized being – it was a cross between a carnivorous horse and hyaena for Xrist sake…

The Rohirrim have (at this point), 54 elements of Rohirrim (6 of "Royal Guard", and 48 of Regular Riders), 18 elements of Outriders, and roughly 36 elements of either dismounted Riders or foot troops and 18 elements of lighter Archers and skirmishing troops… All told, about 300 figures.

Still… Those Copplestone 10mm figures keep calling to me "Buy Me! Buy Me!", and I could convert some Gondorim Troops out of the new Pendraken Late Imperial Romans in a matter of minutes. All you need to do is make a stamp for the helmet, then put a glob of green-stuff on the heads of the figures, and just go down the line: Stamp, Stamp, Stamp, Stamp…

Wait for them to set, trim the edges, Prime and paint… Shields would be just as simple.. Make a stamp, rinse, repeat as necessary (OH! Wait, that's washing your hair… Just as simple though)…

I am sure that eventually, some busy-body will make some "Not-Gondor" troops that will work a charm.

If I were working in 10mm… I would have already done it, but I am busy making Rangers of the North into levy troops for Gondor, Arthedain, Rhuduar, and Cardolan (You would be surprised how easy this is with the ones that have helmets (The Rangers), make a cast of that head… Make casts of the other "rangers" in resin, cut off the necessary heads, and replace with helmeted heads… Remove a few capes (Easy as heck in resin to do), and put on some shields… There you have some levy troops armed in chain and leather hauberks, with leather helmets all sporting he star of Arnor (from that "crown that isn't a crown" that the king of Arnor was supposed to have worn – the one they discovered in Saruman's closet after his death and Gimili's search of his bedroom)…

Still… If the job I get my Senior year pays well enough… You can betcha I will be paying someone to make sure that I have a few 10mm armies for LotR… Can't use the 28mm stuff all the time…

And now for something completely different…it's: Νάρκισσος!

DBase,

Did you settle on anything yet?

It seems to me that the two big visual queues that indicate Gondorian troops (as portrayed in the film) are:
* almost rectangular shields with white tree on black background;
* Full plate armour; and
* Pointed helmets.

This makes late romans problematic because they have round shield, round helmets and are perhaps to irregularly posed.

I guess Bretonians may be the closest.
Or maybe i should beg copplestone?

Cheers
Nick

I was thinking… If there was some way to put Early Imperial Roman shields onto Late Imperial Roman figures…

At least… That is sort of what I am doing in 28mm (Except that it is with the shields off of the Númenórëans and Gondorim, and the Late Romans will probably be the West Wind Romano-Brits and have their head's replaced with heads cast from the GW figures – since the West Wind figures already have that "Separate Head System"… Brilliant idea when you have a decent sculptor)…

These will be my "Levy" troops…

Oh! You can also make javalins for them out of press-cast spear heads and bras-wire. This way, your Javelins for them will have that "Gondor/Númenórë" look to them..

Now, if Nick wants to beg Copplestone to do some "Not-Gondorim", like they have their "not-Rohirrim"… I woud be thrilled to add my voice to the throng (of two so far, counting us both)…

@DBAse: You've encountered the same three issues that led me to throw my hands in the air. And as for Mark Copplestone: he runs a pretty opaque shop. I've always wished he was a little more forthcoming about his current projects and upcoming releases like some of the other boutique sculpters (i.e., eBob and T. Meier), but he must have his reasons. I say this because his releases usually just suddenly appear on his Web site without notice, and (at least in my case) he has not answered any of the e-mails I sent him regarding the future of his 10mm Fantasy line. I think the releases for this line is down to about three a year, and I do not know how long he plans to keep adding to it. I for one hope he does some more human infantry, elves, dwarves, and a variety of other creatures.

@Judas: Do you have a Web site or somewhere we can see all this stuff you keep talking about? It sounds like you are cranking out some interesting stuff, and it would be great to see some visuals.

I have been trying to put one together…

There have been a few who have seen my work… All in person though, and at Historicon (I have won a few Painting Competitions there, and have worked for some of the Vendors)… I have actively avoided any publicity for a long time, as it has been the source of some great troubles in the past that may not yet be behind me… So, I have been wary of publishing work online save for the non-fiction writing that I have done…

But… With the work that I am putting into the LotR stuff… Odds are likely that it will escape into a digital form and be out of my hands… So, I might as well be the one to do so to begin with.

Sometime after Christmas I will be putting the first of the Rohirrim I have done up on either Photobucket, or a Yahoo group…

I have twice asked Copplestone about the possibility of Gondor look-alike troops. And at least I got a response… But the response was "no plan". So i'd suggest it can't hurt to add another request fro Gondor in 10mm. Cheers DBAse

Couldn't hurt…

@Judas – How about some Photobucket stuff then? Really, I gotta see this stuff you keep talking about; it sounds wonderful. Then again, I do not want to impose.

As for Copplestone…Damn, I hope this doesn't mean he's brought this line to conclusion. Any word on that? I wish he ran a more transparent shop!

I'll see if I can get ahold of a camera that will get something decent enough to get on photobucket… Actually… ANY camera that will get stuff on photobucket…

I do have some "works in progress" shots from some of the Haradrim, Rohirrim, and Moria Orc/Goblins… I would have rather waited until I had all of the "Before & After" shots done to post everything (and the "unconverted or altered" figures painted to compare them too – as one of the things that I have been doing to all of the plastics I have been painting is to remove the undercut blocks, and to cut in/sculpt-in the under and back-cuts that are not possible with a plastic mold using a one piece casting).

The Haradrim are probably some of the most astonishing differences of these, as with their armor properly detailed as wicker, and the capes all cut back away from their legs (to make sure that the legs remain strong enough to support the figure and not break from usage, I will drill out the leg and insert a brass rod up through the legs into the figure… This also is what I use to attach the figure to the base)…

All of it will show up someplace eventually… I just have not been very good at self-promotion over the last couple of years, when I should be to help out Hoplon (For some reason people will draw to a set of rules that is complete dross if there are pretty figures used with it.. Since Hoplon isn't dross, it should be easier to promote with decent looking figures)

They are used as campaign markers, but scroll down a bit on the following page to see how this guy handled it:

link

Romans. Hmm: I'm on the fence with this one.

@Judas: Thanks. Look forward to it.

Judas,

Yes. Please do take and post some good photos. Thanks.

CC

Three counting me for not Gondorian.

Is there anyone who might be engaged to sculpt some gondorian look alikes to match in size with the Copplestone figures? And if so, how might one or more of us go about doing so?

I have also asked Copplestone Castings if they would do Gondorian figures in the past…

He has just sent out an email… part of that email reads:

"10mm FANTASY

I`m working on a few new packs – Spearmen, Archers and Knights – and thinking about making a few of the Evil Lord`s human allies. More later."

Could this be the Gondorians we have all asked so much for??? He has already done Rohan-ish spearmen, archers and riders… so that just leaves Gondor does it not??? Woohoo!!

Ben.

I am *very* excited about this announcement. Wonderful news!

"making a few of the Evil Lord`s human allies"

Easterlings, please!!!

CC

Gondorian and Easterling look alikes are much needed!

This is EXCELLENT news.
Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread.

Leidang posted an impressive list of possible LOTR substitutes on this other thread:

TMP link

CC

I would probably use romans for Gondor. Irregular has a nice line of 10mm Rome & Enemies. Irregular distributes in the US through Eureka miniatures.

@Dunadan: The only problem with Irregular is the lack of detail.

I wish there were more companies producing 10mm fantasy on par with Mark Copplestone's and GW's sculpts (especially Marks!).

I recently discovered that the Dark Sword Dennis Mize dragons are perfect for 10mm Middle-earth. They would especially make great first and second age dragons, if you are interested in expanding things that far.

Halfway down on this page:
link

Three of the dragons next to the GW BoFA Smaug for comparison (bottom of the page):
link

They look fantastic! I will add them to my list of things to buy.

Ben.

Noraneko,

That comparison shot of Smaug and the Dark Sword dragons is amazing. I would have never guessed.

Thanks.

CC

And I bet Dark Sword could sell more of them if they marketed the dragons to 10mm gamers/hobbyists.

I wish I could have posted a better comparison picture, but my camera is on the fritz.

Eureka Miniatures does a great 10mm Dragon as well (Technically it's for 18mm, but I think it's too small for 15/18mm and works perfectly for 10mm). There are some painted picks up in the gallery.

link

Ben.

Wow. Look at the "10/15mm Models" section on this site:

link

CC

This just in from Mark Copplestone via his newsletter:

"10mm FANTASY

3 new packs – City Spearmen, City Archers and Rangers – will be
released next week. Knights of the City and Half-Elven Knights to follow."

Just in case, I am posting this link here as well:

TMP link

This will be great.

noraneko, just so you know, last time I was in Eureka Miniatures, Nic showed me some 10mm Ents (not in the same style as the 18mm one… which I adore!… but it still looked cool) they will be available soon as I understand it.

Next time I go into Eureka I have a lot to get. Most of their 18mm line, some 10mm Ents, Eagles etc… oh dear, my poor wallet. :) I don't mind spending lots of cash at Eureka though, they really are a great bunch of guys there.

Copplestone will be getting alot of my money too very soon.

Ben.

Excellent news on Copplestone Gondor troops in 10mm.

Does anyone have a link to pictures of Eureka's ents?

How do they compare with Kallistra's?

Cheers
Nick

@Boromirandkermit

Thanks for the update! Very disappointed to hear that they are not like the 18mm ents, but I am optimistic. I just hope they are not like the other 10mm and 15mm ents out there: giant tree faces with four appendages, very akin to Mr. Potato Head; no more Icecapades ents, please.

And as for Mark Copplestone: he runs a pretty opaque shop. I've always wished he was a little more forthcoming about his current projects and upcoming releases like some of the other boutique sculpters

Tell me about it. Coming from the FoD, Copplestone's is like one of those 'catalogues' that consist of one B&W page. But at least he posts pics.

So, uh… 'next week' is almost up.

Yes, the week is almost up… :(

I bought some 10mm 'Treemen' from Eureka Miniatures (they are not on the website yet) they look much cooler than I remembered. I also got a 10mm 'War Elephant' which is very awesome.

The 'Treemen' are not big fat s like the majority of 10mm Ents, but they have stragly branches and smallish faces which is fantastic. I'll paint one up and post it on my blog so you guys can see it.

Ben.

I forgot to say, that I converted a 10mm Balrog too. Thanks to Norenko for the idea. Instead of sculpting the head myself, I cut half a Genestealers face off and used that. Then just tidyed up the edging etc…

Ben.

A random rant about 10mm monsters (here's as good a place as any): things like not-fellbeasts and treemen and greater daemons disappoint me. They're usually much closer in size to 25-28mm human(oid)s and are more deserving of higher-quality sculpts than 10mm rank-and-file, or at least would benefit more. But this is too often not the case.

I'd say a range of 10mm monsters would be one of my priorities sometime in the future, but I'm afraid CC might come along and kick me in the e-nuts.

Any treeman and balrog pics, B&K?

In fact yes, I just uploaded them. (They are just bare metal – only got the ent yesterday and haven't got around to painting the Balrog) The link is here (there are also a couple of other photos in there):

link

I also saw greens of some very cool 10mm High Elves and Dwarves. They look fantastic!

Ben.

Ta. Nice work on the balrog. Looks excellent. :)

I think my biggest problem with treemen minis, M-E ents in particular, is that they tend to look like random branches stuck together, or trees walking on a pair of thick roots (Treebeard in the movies would've looked much better without that thing growing out the side of his head like a weird wooden tumour). For ents I'd interpret them as more humanoid, but with fairly treeish features.
Of course that train of thought is almost derailed by huorns – ents becoming more treeish and trees becoming more entish. Not sure how that would work with humanoids.
I digress!

Still no new Copplestone. I'm tempted to subscribe to the newsletter.