Gondor progress

I have made some more progress on my Gondor troops over the last few days now that I seem to have a little more spare time on my hands. I have almost completed a unit of archers with accompanying captain and banner bearer. I have gone for a battle-worn vibe, so they are quite dull looking. I need to complete the bases, dirty up (down?) the captain, and then varnish them all. Unfortunately, the varnish I have will dull the paintjobs even further so I am loath to use that spray on them. Can anyone suggest a decent matt varnish that will not dull the miniatures any more than they already are but will still protect the figures from everyday gaming use?

Anyway, here are some shots of the almost completed figures, beginning with a few of the archers...

There are three of each of the standard poses in this unit - they will represent just one of the many archer units at Gondor's command throughout the realm.

And here are a couple of the comand group, the banner bearer and a captain...

I have decided to have each unit number twelve troops headed up by an additional captain (sergeant?) and a banner bearer bringing a squad total to fourteen. I toyed with champions also being included but after a lot of umming and aahing I decided that it would be one step too far.

I have enough miniatures to make up seven or eight units; six will be standard build (two units each of the archers, swordsmen and spearmen) and the eBay odds and ends I have will be used for conversions to try to make up a veteran unit and a unit of axemen. These won't be ready for quite a while as I want to complete the original six units first so I can try to get them onto the table for a game or two.

Just out of interest, the backdrop I used was this...

Rohan_landscape_screenshot

I know it has been designated as a Rohan landscape by the artist, but I think it can be used for any of the mannish realms. I especially like the watch tower in the background and can imagine all sorts of skirmishes based around out-of-the-way spots like this one.

Next update will hopefully be the completed archer unit.