Lord of the Rings / Hobbit Strategy Battle Game 25mm Character Models

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Strategy Battle Games (from Games Workshop) are, if you're not familiar with them, very much geared towards skirmish-level gaming, with very powerful character / leader models.  Whole units of ordinary troops can be trounced by a powerful character (as indeed they are in the books / movies); and units of otherwise broken or mediocre troops can be made very effective just by sticking a character with them.  As a bonus, the Perry-sculpted miniatures are beautiful.

Legolas and Boromir, two of my favourite characters both from the book and the movies.  Correct me if I'm wrong, LOTR fans, but I don't recall sandy hair and a beard ever being mentioned about Boromir in the book... and yet the Ralph Bakshi cartoon and the Pete Jackson movies have both styled him so.  Anyhow, these are both lovely sculpts, and were a joy to paint.  I've tried to copy the movie colour scheme - and yes, I need to paint the eyes in now!  Honestly, you don't notice when they're on the table, the miniatures are so tiny compared to the current trend for 28-35mm steroid giants.

The rear view of Orlando and Sean.  I tip my hat (once again) to the brilliance of the sculpting here.  The rear view captures the 'weight on the back foot' stance of both characters, but with a subtlety that indicates, if pushed, Legolas will simply dance around you and shoot you dead.  Boromir, on t'other hand, would just knock you flat.  Just thinking... is there a design on Boromir's shield?  I need to watch the movies again.

Ladies favourite Aragorn, paired with his really old friend Gandalf.  I've deviated from the movie colour scheme to make Gandalf's hat brighter and robes lighter - otherwise he's a bit grey.  Yes, I know he's meant to be, but what looks good on Sir Ian doesn't alwys work at 25mm tall.  I've seen other Gandalf miniatures (other Perry ones, that is) with sexier poses - but the Aragorn here is my favourite.  His whole stance shows that he's facing probably dozens of opponents, without you needing to put the models down in front of him.

Rear view of the two 'main men'.  Aragorn's long coat, and Gandalf's robes, mean that the poses get a bit lost in the rear views... but to balance that, the highlighting and shading work was more fun.  The skin tone is a bit 'sunbed' compared to movie stills, but nobody stays pale if they really wander the wilderness all day - not even in winter.

Sam and Frodo, in case the names on the bases don't give it away, haha.  Probably the least exciting of the character models in this post, though I do like the 'offensive' Sam paired with the 'defensive' Frodo.  Okay to paint, moderately useful on the battlefield, and yes... they need eyes!

Rear view of the two 'serious' hobbits.

And a front view of the two 'comedy' hobbits.  Again, I've tried to go with the movie colour scheme, brightening here and there to heighten contrast and avoid these tiny figures getting lost under the paint.

Rear view of the Took and the Brandybuck.  It's a nice touch to sculpt one with his pack / bottle worn on the hip, and the other over his back.  Helps to ring the changes on what would otherwise be two difficult-to-distinguish models.

The Hobbit version of Bilbo, paired with a home-made Hobbit archer (more on these chaps in a later post).  Not much to say about Bilbo - he's a lovely sculpt, you get the option of sword or stick, and he really does look like Martin Freeman.  When I redo him (to get the eyes in), I might also paint his sword, Sting, a bit more blue.  The 'orc glow' doesn't really show.

Thorin and Kili from The Hobbit 'Goblin Town' boxed set.  Every single model in that kit is amazing - the dwarves particularly.  I had to sit with my son's 'The Hobbit' annual to make sure I was as close as my skills allow to the appearance of the characters in the movie, as the models don't miss a detail!  Nerve-wracking stuff.  I don't like painting blue, but it looks good on these two I think.

Rear view of Thorin and his cousin (nephew? something like that, anyway).  I know they feature in both book and movie, but I can't get my head around dwarf archers.  Just a personal thing.  I always feel they should have crossbows, or firearms.  Something more technical than a bendy stick with a string on, anyway.

Gimli - another great miniature with far more detail on it than I've exploited here.  The beard needs highlights, and the coat is too plainly-done.  A shame, as I really like the character, and he's awesome on the tabletop.  Keep an eye out for the redone miniature at a later date!

Gimli's stance works well from the rear too - a sort of 'go on then, have a go' challenge to any foe.  Hard to pose him any other way, I suppose, as his proportions and multi-layered clothing sort of restrict how dynamic he can appear.  The dwarves in the Hobbit movies are less squat, and much easier to imagine leaping about and dashing here and there.