The Final Bonus Round of the Challenge and Curtgeld

Bonus round - Anti-hero!

I had lots of things in mind however this one just kept calling to me from the bottom of the lead pile “paint me precious,paint me!”

How could I resist, and so here I present Smeagol.(aka Gollum).

Where would Middle Earth be without Gollum's sharp little teeth? After all the pain and hardship that the Fellowship go through, all the grief and loss and almost failing at the final hurdle its Gollum that saves the day. How perfect is he as an Antihero? You start off hating him, then pity him, then quite like him with his "master" this and "nasty fat hobbit" that. I personally think he fits the antihero mold quite nicely as he does have an altruistic side, albeit very well hidden. 

In both Frodo and Sam’s journey he begins to lose some of his “Gollum-ness” returning to an earlier version of himself before he was poisoned by the precious. Even when he reverts back to Gollum he still retains that desire to keep the ring away from Sauron instinctively recognising that it would be a very bad thing for Middle Earth should the ring be reunited with its master.

 But in the end its all for nought as he plunges to his doom clutching his precious (and chewing on a tasty snack at the same time). 

Great fun to paint, I went for a basic skintone in the end rather anything pasty or wasted looking. This is one of the better GW sculpts for the Lord of The Rings range, the pose is very dynamic and pretty much painted itself!

Curtgeld

This was going to be my antihero bonus round entry however that Gollum, he’s a tricky fellow and just pipped Saruman to the punch! 

Actually that’s not quite true, there is a selfish reason behind this being my entry fee to the challenge. I was originally going to submit a painted model of Professor Moriarty however when it came to painting him I enjoyed it so much that I actually wanted to keep him and so quickly started searching for something else to submit. 

"I am Saruman of Many Colours"

In steps Saruman number 1, I say that because I have two of this model and figured I could use him as a test piece for layering light colours. I wasn’t too worried that I’d cock it up as I am an okay painter and so wouldn’t be submitting a pile of junk to Curt, and I have to say I’m quite pleased with how he turned out. I figure I can do better when it comes to painting him again (hopefully really soon).

"Bugger, wrong robes!"

"Grima, be a dear and fetch my many coloured robes, they're in the second drawer down under my Backstreet Boys T-Shirts"

I’ve enjoyed and hated the challenge in equal measure (much like Gollum loves and hates himself!). It’s been a great way to motivate me to get some of those outstanding jobs done and as a consequence I have a pretty large Isengard force for LoTR/The Hobbit. Not only that but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the banter and camaraderie of the other participants and the sense of community amongst the bloggers taking part (or just observing). However I’m beginning to feel a little burnt out, and I only had a small target of 750 pts (unlike some of the others aiming for 3000+), so I’ll be a little relieved to have it finish and relax and play some games.

The overriding theme of the challenge has been Lord of the Rings for me which is appropriate I guess after having moved my family to New Zealand in the past six months, and I’m looking forward to getting a big post challenge LoTR game in with challenge compatriot Scott (who’s already promised to blog the resulting game which is good as he’s much better at taking pics!).

Anyway onward and upward, I’ve just submitted my final submission for the challenge however I did for some reason think that it ended today (16th March) when I in fact it’s the 20th so I’ve still time to try and beat my target of 750pts.

Hmmm, wait and see.