My reward for 13 consecutive SOS completions was this figure. Produced by Games Workshop for their Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game (MESBG), it resembles most the Peter Jackson/WETA movie interpretation of this mythical duo from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings. In the lore of the books, the Witch King is the most powerful servant of the dark lord Sauron, who when war comes is carried by his flying steed to lead the armies of Mordor.
"[...] it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was [...]" (Return Of The King, J.R.R. Tolkien)
My fascination with all things Middle-Earth goes back to my college days, and my horde includes not just the books, but the movies, RPGs, CCGs, and miniatures, but for some reason, of timing, bandwidth or other I had never become aware of This particular adaptation as a tabletop miniature game until recently. Seeing that they offered a cinematic version of these figures was too good to pass up, even at Games Workshop prices.
The kit come molded in multiple sprues of gray plastic, a bit softer than your typical styrene kit, but tough and slightly flexible, a good choice for a tabletop game model.
There are parts available to make three versions of the rider and two versions of the Beast. I preferred the Armored head version, ready for war. For riders you can build and interchange two. Some modelers have used magnets to make interchanging beast neck and head; I chose not to.
I like to paint my minis to a good tabletop standard, and this seemed an opportunity to try out some new techniques and handle the challenge of making something all- black not look... all black. And have an awesome leader for a possible MESBG Army ;-) .
My first step was to hit YouTube and see how others had handled this, and culled from these the approach I would use.
First, some dependable Tamiya fine surfacing primer.
In a world of Acrylic paints, this base coat is essential.
I mixed by eye a pale color, a blend of Vallejo Iraqi Sand and white, and sprayed the entire model. Once dry, I thinned and sprayed Vallejo German Gray along all wing ribs, and the upper body, fading out at the transition, to give a naturalistic impression of a creature dark on top, pale on the bottom. This was replicated on the wings to leave the impression of this, almost translucent webbing between its "fingers"
There are nicely rendered areas of scales on its back and neck, and I wanted to accentuate that in a realistic way. My wife thought it would be cool to somehow capture the almost prismatic effect of some reptilian scales. I had an old bottle of Citadel Polished Blue, a dark blue with metal flakes. This was carefully dry-brushed onto the scaly patches with a cut down foam makeup applicator, so that the paint was only applied to the tops of the scales. This was too colorful and bright for this evil beast, but we'll address that later-it's all part of the plan.
In the mean time, I used a very dark blue to paint the veins on its wings, the idea being that like you and I, the veins in your translucent skin appear bluish.
I also carefully painted the wing ribs black.
Interestingly, what color, and how dark it appears now depends entirely on the lighting. The saddle gone the rider was painted black; the creature's armor in gunmetal metallic, its mouth a mix of red and dark grey, with more red on the tongue; and the teeth picked out in old Citadel Bleached Bone.
The claws were given a coat of bleached bone as well, with a bit of brown wash on their "roots", and a bit of white at their tips and sharp edges. Once dry, they too were covered with the thinned black wash to darken and tie it in to the overall scheme - origins in nature, but soaked in Evil.
After Tamiya primer, he receives an overall German gray coat except for the area inside his hood which was straight black, with Armor wash shadows. On a wet palette, I blended German Gray and white to get a medium gray, which was dry brushed over most of the model to contrast with the depths/shadows. An even lighter blend was used to highlight tops and edges. Once dry, the entire model wash given the thinned wash, and black wash on shadows re-applied. His sword was gunmetal metallic with armor wash shadows and chrome highlights. He came out looking suitably creepy and blended well with the Beast.
Now for the Witch King at his apogee, as he challenged Gandalf at the broken gate of Minas Tirith...
'"Old Fool!" he said. "Old Fool! This is my hour. Do you not know death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.'
The same steps were used to paint the figure, using gunmetal on his armor and sword. The flames started with a yellow ink over all, a bit of orange from about half way out to the tip, red on the tips, and a touch of black at the extreme edge as it becomes smoke.
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