Final Entries for Painting Challenge IX - Part II

Regrettably, my painting production really slowed down as the Challenge entered its final month or so - real life can be a bugger!

We start with my entry for the final Bonus Theme - Fellowship. As soon as the Painting Challenge Bonus Themes were announced, I had known that my final entry would be based on The Lord of the Rings. I already had the big hitters of the Fellowship - Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir - painted up, but for some reason had never got around to painting the remaining members, so the Challemnge was the perfect opportunity to get them done. All of these are the old metal GW sculpts, mostly sourced from Ebay, as I really am not a fan of the more recent plastic sculpts. For me, these are much more characterful.

First up we have Gandalf. I really like this sculpt - it is very dynamic and was a joy to paint.

Next we have Merry and Pippin. In the movies I think Pippin originally had a red cloak, but I wanted to paint all of these in the more muted Elven cloaks they received after visiting Lothlorien. So, in  a nod to his original cloak, Pippin got a red scarf. 

Finally, we have Sam and Frodo. I like the fact that these are modelled with knapsacks, reflecting the fact that they spend so much time journeying in various wildernesses. Sam's is suitably bulkier than Frodo's, and he even has a spoon and small pot hanging off the back.

And here they are together.

My very last entry for the Challenge was a small one. First up is a Britannia/Grubby tanks Kubelwagon with an AB SS crew. The Kubel is showing its age, with several holes in the resin cast, but it was very cheap! As with my previous AB SS, they are done in Autumn Oakleaf camo.

To finish off, we have eight AB Germans, this time just painted as Wehrmacht. The first two are an officer and NCO, the next six an infantry section. The LMG team for this section was painted but not based in time, so couldn't be included.

And that brings my efforts in the IXth Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge to a close. I didn't quite make my 1000 point target, with all my entries totaling 978 points. However, that was enough for a 26th place finish, which I was very pleased with considering this was my first time in the Challenge. It was an absolute blast and it was great to be part of such an enthusiastic, inspiring and supportive community of painters. I would love to do it again!