On the slopes of Mount Doom

I beheld the last combat on the slopes of Orodruin, where Gil-Galad died, and Elendil fell, and Narsil broke beneath him; but Sauron himself was overthrown, and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shaft of his father's sword, and took it for his own.

JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (1954)

The opening scene of Jackson's Fellowship absolutely blew my mind and sucked me in to hours of films, and later countless hours of toy soldiery.

These are Perry brothers sculpts. I painted Sauron and the standing Elendil and Isildur many years ago, but they have not previously graced this blog. For the 'last stand' and 'geology' challenges in AHPC X, I painted the prone Númenóreans and made a scenic base.

Sauron

Isildur and Elendil

Isildur

Elendil

Isildur & Elendil

Magnetized base

I used a rocky outcrop from Gale Force 9 to bulk up the Renedra base, to provide a visual balance to Sauron, and to reinforce the idea that their backs are against the wall. These outcrops are lovely durable resin pieces, and I strongly recommend them. I 3D printed a ring (!) to contain Sauron's 40mm base. I built up the groundwork with plaster, bark, and model railway ballast. I added some brown tones during the painting, since grey is boring and doesn't look right.

Early planning

Groundwork for sealing and painting

Painted

I added a flower in a rocky cleft, since hope blooms even in the darkest moments.