Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Lord of the Rings Khandish King

This weekend is the Gathering in the Desert Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game independent grant tournament (sounds impressive). Each year there is a painting competition and I try to have at least a couple of entries. Usually I have something already painted that I can just touch up and enter. This year I started with a couple of fresh models and spent more than a week painting them up. I wanted a model that would really be unusual and stand out. My Khandish King on a chariot would be perfect. You just don't see too much Khandish stuff around.

I must say I was really pleased with how this turned out. And then I too high resolution pictures. I have come to the conclusion that I have 2 megapixel eyes, which is not good with 8 megapixel photos. It blows me away how many things jump out at me in these pictures that I literally cannot see in person. I really hope the judges don't look at these pictures before the judging. Oh well, maybe there won't be too many entries.







I really hate the way GW painted this model for the box. They took an amazing sculpt and then painted it in a generic black and red scheme. For my model I wanted to really bring out the Asian influences in the sculpt. There really are a lot of different Asian influences here from the Mongol, to the Chinese and the finally Japanese. To me the Chinese and Japanese influences were strongest. I wanted the cloth to be more elaborate than just a solid color but I did not want to get too bogged down in an intricate pattern. I think I pulled that off. The Samurai inspired armor needed to be more subdued to keep the model from being too busy. I went with a simple red-brown color which ties the model to the chariot but still allows the colorful fabrics to stand out.

It was a really fun model to build and paint and makes a nice addition to the collection.

4 comments:

Scottswargaming said...

I think you have done a very good job. I like the fact you added the reigns, and didnt fall into the trap of painting googly eyes on the horses! The pattern on the robes is a nice touch, as is the skin tone used for the king himslef.

Jerry said...

Excellent job! I know what you mean about cameras. They really don't capture things as the human eye sees them. Cameras give everything in the viewfinder equal importance. The human eye glances over some areas and concentrates on others. So painting to look good for the camera, I think, is a different skill. You did a kick ass job on this and I'm sure it's a contender.

For my part, I did nothing for the competition, despite planning so much. Good luck with this.

Space Hulk Enthusiast said...

I like the red/blue contrast you've got wit the model. That and the texture of the base is great.
You don't see many people using turf... most of the time it's just static grass.

Nice work.
Ron, FTW

Robert said...

Thanks for the comments! I am happy with how it turned out and I think it will do well this weekend.