Tom Bombadil & Goldberry

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a ding dillo!
Ring along! hop along! Fal lal the willow
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

Tom Bombadil & Goldberry

Tom Bombadil is Tolkien's most enigmatic figure. He's also often the first major hurdle many first-time LotR readers encounter. I really like this sculpt which captures the Hildebrandt magic.

Tom Bombadil

Feb 1976 JRR Tolkien calendar by the Brothers Hildebrandt

His wife, Goldberry, is a river spirit. I don't usually add flowers to bases- this was a good exception.

Goldberry

These figures are from The Printing Goes Ever On.

Ned Kelly and The Kelly Gang

Ned Kelly is the most (in)famous Australian bushranger. Starting with petty crime, his career progressed through horse theft and cattle rustling and on to murdering police and robbing banks. His gang fashioned armour out of ploughshares in a bush forge, and wore it for a shootout with police at Glenrowan in 1880. Forewarned of ambush by young teacher Thomas Curnow (an under-recognized hero), the police prevailed. Kelly was executed and his last words were, "Such is life." He was 25.

His iconic armour weighed 40kg and significantly impaired movement and vision, but sustained multiple hits without penetration.

Ned wore a grey coat at his final shootout

He has become part of Australian history, either as an idolised Robin Hood figure or a disaffected terrorist- Geoffrey Robertson scornfully calls him 'Jihad Ned'. If you have a "Such is life" tattoo, then I will judge you.

These figures are from Great Escape Games. I painted the armour with Army Painter Gunmetal, then a wash of AP Dark Tone, then a thin wash of Vallejo 73.204 Flesh Wash for a subtle rust effect. The final touch is a 2B pencil for edge highlighting and scratches.

Recommended reading: True Girt 

Dungeon scenery

I've bought or printed an amount of various scatter fantasy and dungeon pieces this month:

Cart from Printable Scenery

Goods from Mantic

Market stalls* from Mantic; cat from Reaper

Torture implements from Printable Scenery

Pits from Printable Scenery

Webbed adventurers from Printable Scenery

Spider swarms from Reaper

Spiders from Reaper

Cobwebs from Thingiverse;
Modular cavern walls from Printable Scenery;
Mat from Cigar Box Battle

*The market stands were atrociously warped. I did the hot water/ cold water trick to no avail multiple times, and ended up melting them on a flame to try and get them straightish. Very frustrating and I cannot recommend, but the other Mantic stuff was fine.

"Noone expects the Spanish Inquisition!"