WIP- Black Numenoreans

Nothing like your last week in the country to try and roll out another project! It's not my fault really. I remembered  had a set of metal Morgul Knights I'd swapped for someting some time n the dim ditant past. They are in my gaming room somewhere and that they'd make the great basis of another LoTR force, but what?

In the end I decided on Black Numenoreans as something a bit different. So I scoured high and low in my gaming room/hoarding chamber and found lots of unexpected surprises (oh, I don't remember buying those!) but no damn Morgul knights! Grrr. Where the hell have they got too?

Oh well never mind, at least I can start the project. I had a look at the GW Black Numenorean figures and one word sums them up for me...YUCK! Now don't get me wrong, I like some of the GW LoTR ranges, some are outstanding and really capture the look of Middle Earth for me, others are neo-gothic punkesque abominations that I really, really can't stand. And don't get me started on the ridiculous plate mail wearing crap that was PJ's take on Gondor! I prefer my LoTR to be more real world, Anglo-Saxon/Dark Ages inspired, so those spikey Black Numenoreans simply won't do.

But what to use? I found one inspired blog out there that had used the Warriors of the Dead figures to make them, brilliant. I had purchased 20 of the plastic undead from Poland via ebay for D&D purposes last year (and once I located them discovered 20 or so of the Galadheim elves to boot-eh gads, not another project!) .So I'll convert the undead up and deundeadify them- although I am also tempted to use the new Fireforge Byzantium spearmen longer term. The undead will fit a bit better with the Morgul knights spikiness though.

I'll also need some bows or crossbow units to go with them. After a bit of searching I came up with using the GW ranger figures. So I simply painted the cloaks and rebased the figures I had. However, these guys cloaks came out much too bright (at least in the photos) so will be dulled down to a more sombre/menacing/less happy shade.

I wanted dull, I wanted dark, I wanted drab. Instead I got these! Doh!

Leader of the Black Numenorean infantry. He had a bit of drastic surgery. His much too undead looking head was hacked off and a rather more sympathetic to the look I'm after Gripping  Beast plastic Saxon Thegn head was added instead.

 Same for this guy, whose fly swat was replaced with a  GB axe arm form the Dark Ages infantry box.

 Same here, and he has a bit of a gap at his throat at present, testimony of his radical surgery.

 This guy had his fly swat replaced with a Saxon blade from the aforementioned GB Saxon Thegns.

 And how they look once finished.

So there we have it, a wee project I'm trying to get completed before I fly out this weekend.

Craig