"At The Time Of The First War Of The Ring..."

"...The Black Númenóreans cast their lot in with the Dark Lord of Mordor."

These three 28mm 3D printed Black Númenóreans were bought from a seller on "eBay" as part of two six-figure 'Buy it now' auctions back in November 2023. Described as a "not official product", the resin miniatures were purchased as infantry proxies for my Barad Dur army until "Games Workshop" once again produce the "cruel oppressors" for their "The Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game".

Having received the surrogate sculpts though, the models appear to closely resemble those of the now Out Of Production (OOP) line of dark-hearted warriors, and unsurprisingly have now disappeared off of the e-commerce website without any warning whatsoever. I have since attempted to purchase some of the old "Finecast" or metal miniatures produced by "Games Workshop" to compare the pieces. But sadly these are incredibly expensive second-hand, with prices ranging from a still sealed blister containing four figures for £180, down to a single roughly-pigmented model costing £23.70, including postage & packing.

"Some say in exchange for immortality."

"Enamoured of evil knowledge", the trio were initially primed using a mixture of "Vallejo" Surface Primer Black and "Warlord Games" Pitch Black, before being heavily dry-brushed with “Vallejo” Heavy Charcoal and soaked in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then 'picked out' their belts and shield straps with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, before applying some "Vallejo" Gunmetal to the warriors' ornate armour and swords.

These metallic areas were subsequently drowned with (more) “Citadel” Nuln Oil and later dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Gunmetal. To dirty the armour down somewhat and create a contrast between it and the Númenóreans' blades, I gave all the plate armour a splash of "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade. Lastly, I 'picked out' the models' teeth using a little "Two Thin Coats" White Star and "Citadel" Agrax Earthshade, as well as their chins with a dollop of "Vallejo" Heavy Skintone and "Citadel" Reikland Fleshshade.

"Crooked Dice Game Design Studio" WIPs - These four Resistance Fighters are slowly being progressed

With my latest contribution to the Fourteenth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (AHPC) completed, including an additional bonus 20-points for tying my entry in with the Challenge Library's Fantasy Books section, I have started to make some significant in-roads on the Resistance Fighters four-figure pack sold by "Crooked Dice Game Design Studio". Distinctly inspired by Kenneth Johnson's 1983 science-fiction television miniseries "V", this miniatures are part of another project I hadn't really planned to start until quite some time later this year.

However, as the close relationship between Mike Donovan and Juliet Parrish's characters were one of the franchise's central themes, I thought the Lincolnshire-based company's models would be highly suitable for the AHPC's Library Romance Books bonus section, so broke them out of their plastic bag early. Indeed, I've decided to crack on with both the Ham Tyler and Elias Taylor lookalikes too, so as to be able to field the Earth's partisan leaders (in full) before moving on the the gerbil-eating, lizard-faced extra-terrestrials...