Gondor Archer unit (wip)

Here is an update on how far I have got so far with my Gondorian archer unit. Progress has been slow (I am only able to find about half an hour to an hour per day at the moment), but I want to keep the blog ticking over with details of what I have been up to. The eight archers in the previous post were undercoated and had the flesh added to their faces. At this stage, the armour has been painted with GW Chainmail. This is a very tiresome procedure as each individual shoulder plate, vambrace and greave has had to be painted one-at-a-time. However, once the first dozen (four to go now) have been completed then it will be onto the more exciting stuff to paint. I have decided to paint the first unit with red tunics to tie in with my ideas discussed earlier in the blog thread. Looking at those in the photo below, I think the black and metal scheme is a little bland.

I have 16 (4 sprues/boxes worth) of each troop type (archers, swordsmen, spearmen) on my paint station, most are undercoated and some have a little paint on them. I am currently working on getting a dozen archers ready to represent a unit on the tabletop for Dragon Rampant and the Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. Each unit will also be accompanied by a banner bearer and a captain. I am also thinking of adding a veteran/champion type figure to add a bit more variety to the command structure. I know this doesn't really fit in with either game, but I want the army to match some ideas I have had.

There are a number of EBay purchases ready to come through the post at the moment. I have been busy bidding on a further box of 24 Warriors of Minas Tirith, as well as crew for the war machines. I have also looked at some more captains and banner bearers to fill out the ranks. Hopefully these will all be through over the next week or so. I will show them all off when they have all been delivered.

In future I will not detail each stage of painting for a unit on a separate post, but try to get a unit finished and then detail the method (if anything unusual), paints and materials used with photos of the end result. This may mean that updates will be fewer and further between, but at least something more solid will be shown with each new post.

It would be nice to get four or five units finished in the next month or so, then move onto an enemy. Hopefully after a month of starting that second army I should have enough for two sides to play a game. I am currently looking at Easterlings to be my next project.