Painting Guide - Arnor and Mahud Mumak

After winning Two Best painted Army Awards in a row at two Lincoln based GBHL Events, I couldn't help but get an insight into the mind behind two astounding, award winning, armies. Let's hand over to Robert Burton for a peek into his methodology. ~ Harry P (GBHL Blog Editor)

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I am not the most technical or talented painter in our hobby, however what I do have is good vision when it comes to assembling an Army. I was fortunate enough to win the last two painting competitions for a GBHL event run by Harry Parkhill (Lord of the Imps), I think that was in part due to my style of painting. At its core, my aim is to be as clean as possible even at the expense of excessive detail and to set a scene that is above all appealing to the eye.

When starting a fresh army, colour testing is by far the biggest part for me, whether that’s trying to match Games Workshop box art, or creating my own unique scheme, taking the time to test out several paints and blends on different models beforehand really helps nailing down that final vision for your force.

When starting out with my Arnor force, I wanted it to look as close to the box as possible. There’s something about the bright greens and flashy silvers that really make it stand out compared to the other races of men in the game. Being that much of the Army is clad in full plate and mail I knew I needed a solid metallic base to help me get ahead. I decided on a metal spray that had the right shine and glossiness and proceeded to attack that army with it (for full list of the exact paints used, scroll to the end of the article!). Following up with an oil wash really helped get into the recess without dulling down the shine of the metallics. If you have never used oil washes before I highly recommend it. If the wash doesn’t want to sit in a specific recess don’t hesitate to cheat with a thin amount of black paint and get those recessed details penned in. Remember it’s about the overall force, not the individual miniature. Keeping that in mind helps you to not get burnt out when something goes wrong. You can always fix it in the end.

The rest of the painting goes in the regular fashion of building up colours at a time making sure to be as clean and delicate as possible, several greens were used for the cloth and shield, taking extra care around the Arnor insignia as to not ruin those lovely silver stars we got curtesy of our base coat. Once the cloth and Armour was finished, a simple face using different flesh tones and washes was added and I ended the base models with a bone-coloured cloth around the helmet.

Arnor has very little in the way of heroes and captains, with only two named models I knew I needed to convert up some miniatures to give the army some much needed flair, that’s where the Gondor citadel guard came in handy.

TOP TIP - Sudocreme is useful to stop green stuff sticking to your fingers and tools (and also makes for soft soft skin...)

After seeing this conversion done once, I decided to make it my own. Removing the heads and livery from the models to make way for some simple green stuff work and lovely sculpted heads by Perry Miniatures, I’m left with three unique but very Arnorian models to add to my Army, be they run as a king’s guard or captains, they really stand out on the battlefield.

Once I had the bug for converting, the Hobbits were on the chopping block next. Using a few Merry and Pippins and one very angry Farmer Maggot, I cut, scraped, and converted my way to four little Shire knights of Arnor.

Finally, I rounded off the force with Arvedui and Malbeth. This is where extra time and care was taken to get them looking just right.

Arnor is a great Army with some beautiful sculpts and painting them was a real treat.

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For my second event I decided to do something different, I was fortunate enough to have acquired a well-rounded Far Harad force, the uniqueness of the models piqued my interest, and I was faced with a four-week deadline to get the Army done in time for the tournament. I knew I needed to get some colour on these boys fast and worry about clean up later. Contrast paints, which are something I have little experience with, came in handy big time. The base colours of the entire army were done this way, but because the colours of the thatched armour, camel and the skin are all similar shades and hues, it was difficult to make sure they didn’t just blend into each other. I wanted to ensure you could tell where the models’ details began and ended. Batch painting really saved my life here, making sure each model was progressing at the same time really allows you to see and visualize your force taking shape, it also allows you to make mistakes and fix them before moving on to the next step in the painting process. Even if you are in a rush slowing down and keeping it clean will make it faster in the long run.

The mumakil was an exciting task, after the old paint was stripped off I went to town detailing up the leathery skin and tusks, The howdah was painted up in the same fashion as the red cloth on the Mahud raiders to keep the theme heavily tied together. Once the base colours were in, I spent time detailing the war paint on the mumak, I layered dark reds with highlights and a touch of white to set it off and make it pop on the board. Next up was the tusk weapons, using twine I rapped ten loops tightly around the tusks. Toothpicks make excellent spikes once sanded and chipped. After adding in the spikes between the twine loops, I set it with a layer of super glue, the twine absorbs the glue and sets everything hard binding the spikes together. I finished off the mumak with two skeletal torsos, hanging off rope in the front of the howdah where the beast-master rides, it’s certainly not something a Rohirim wants to see coming over the horizon.

The Mahud were a real challenge but once the force came together, combined with a palm tree laden display board, they are a sight to behold on the battlefield.

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Thanks Robert - a fantastic insight into what I'm sure we can all agree is a gorgeous pair of armies. I can't wait to see what he does next. Harry P (GBHL Blog Editor)

Warrior of Arnor Paint list.

Armour, spear tip and shield insignia:

Base coat - Humbrol metal coat spray, Polished aluminium.

Wash - Humbrol black wash enamel.

Layer - Vallejo chainmail silver.

Highlights - Vallejo Steel.

Cloth and shield:

Layer - Warpstone glow

Contrast - Warpstone lightening

Highlight - Warpstone glow

Belts, boots, and gloves:

Layer - Gorthor brown

Wash - Agrax Earthshade

Highlight – Gorthor brown

Spear shaft:

Layer - Ushabti bone

Cloth on helmet.

Layer - Ushabti bone

Wash – Nuln oil

Highlight – Ushabti bone & Ulthuan Grey mix.

Face:

Layer – Vallejo pale flesh

Contrast – Guilliman flesh

Highlight – Vallejo pale flesh & Ulthuan grey mix

Buckles, sword guard and scabbard detailing.

Layer – Glorious gold.

Scabbard:

Layer – Dryad Bark

Wash – Agrax Earthshade

Warriors of Mahud Paint list:

Base coat – Wraithbone.

Cloth:

Contrast – Blood Angels Red

Layer – Evil suns scarlet

Highlight – Troll slayer Orange

Thatched Armour and shield:

Contrast – Darkoath Flesh

Drybrush – Deathclaw brown

Light Drybrush – Wraithbone.

Contrast – Snakebite leather for shield trim

Skin:

Contrast - Skeleton Horde

Drybrush – Wraithbone

Arm, leg and shield wraps:

Contrast – Black templar.

Stone spear head and shaft.

Layer – Drayad Bark for spear shaft

Contrast – Basilicanum grey

Drybrush – Ulthuan Grey

Face paint:

Contrast – Flesh tearers Red

Layer – Ulthuan grey.