"The Guards Of The Gate Were Robed In Black..."

"...And their helms were of strange shape, high-crowned, with long cheek-guards close-fitting to the face..."

These five "cartoon scale" white metal figures of King Victor's Royal Guard are produced by “Lucid Eye Publications” and can be bought from the company's "Toon Realms" range as a pack of four miniatures. Sculpted by Steve Saleh, I have painted the warriors in the colours of the Guards of the Tower of Gondor so as to field a six-figure strong unit of (Elite Foot) Guards of the Citadel for “Dragon Rampant” by "Osprey Games".

"...And above the cheek-guards were set the white wings of sea-birds."

Initially primed with two coats of "Citadel" Abaddon Black, these personal bodyguards to the twenty-sixth ruling Steward of Gondor were dry-brushed using some "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal and subsequently washed in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. They then had their boots and spear shafts layered with "Vallejo" Heavy Sienna, and their belt buckles, spears and helmets delicately dabbed in Gold. All of these areas were later washed with "The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade to dampen down their pigment's vigour. The Tower Guards' helmets, armours, chain-mail, shield emblems and spear-tips were treated to a combination of "Citadel" Ironbreaker and Nuln Oil. These parts were later delicately dry-brushed with (more) Ironbreaker. Finally, each knight’s linen surcoat and feathers were ‘picked out’ in “Vallejo” White and ‘shaded’ with a tiny amount of Pale Grey.

"Toon Realms" WIPs - Sterling has been washed with "Citadel" Nuln Oil and then dry-brushed with Ironbreaker

Despite having now finished enough "Toon Realms" figures with which to field both a 26 point Undead and opposing Gondor/Fangorn army for "Dragon Rampant", I still have a couple more models manufactured by "Lucid Eye Publications" which I am working on, most notably a characterful sculpt of Sterling the Wandering Knight. This marvellous looking miniature will make a good proxy for the eldest son of Denethor II, Boromir, for my 'Lord of the Toons' project, and having already been primed, shaded and dry-brushed, just needs some of his details to be 'picked out'...

"Kings Of War" WIPs - The Ahmunite Pharaoh is slowly having all his armour coated with "Vallejo" Gold

Significantly far less agreeable to pigment has been the leader of my Empire of Dust "Kings Of War" force, an Ahmunite Pharaoh. This metal 'Lord of the Two Lands' by "Mantic Games" is proving particularly difficult to progress on account of the flimsy nature of its two hand-weapons, which persistently seem to want to bend in half with just the slightest contact from my paint brush. Indeed, I've already lost count how many times the figure's Egyptian khopesh and 'axe' have almost snapped off whilst I've been applying the tiniest amount of verdigris to the undead corpse's bronze hand-weapons. In addition, despite heavily watering-down my "Vallejo" Gold and applying it as multiple thin coats, the sculpt's soft detail is still being lost, and as a result I have already abandoned my plan to 'highlight' some of the ancient warrior's armour with a smidgen of Turquoise...