Above. The Trolls given a coat of Army Painter Uniform Army
Green Colour Primer Spray.
FLESH COLOUR
I approached this slightly differently than on the
Revenants, as I was going to use different colour washes
on different colour areas. Basically I did the flesh wash
first, then blocked in the other colours and then washed
them appropriately.
Wash - Quickshade Washes Green Tone all over the
whole model, I did a couple of coats. This is using the
green primer as the base flesh tone, and as there is a lot
of flesh on the Troll, this save a lot of time. Don’t be afraid
go back and slosh a bit more on if an area needs more
definition.
COLOURS
Once I was happy with the flesh shading and it had dried, I
Painted in the rest of the colours. As ever keep the block
of colours neat, it’s not a huge range of colours. Below is a
list of the sort of colours I used but you could vary it
considerably.
Revenants, as I was going to use different colour washes
on different colour areas. Basically I did the flesh wash
first, then blocked in the other colours and then washed
them appropriately.
Wash - Quickshade Washes Green Tone all over the
whole model, I did a couple of coats. This is using the
green primer as the base flesh tone, and as there is a lot
of flesh on the Troll, this save a lot of time. Don’t be afraid
go back and slosh a bit more on if an area needs more
definition.
COLOURS
Once I was happy with the flesh shading and it had dried, I
Painted in the rest of the colours. As ever keep the block
of colours neat, it’s not a huge range of colours. Below is a
list of the sort of colours I used but you could vary it
considerably.
Above. Quickshade Washes Green Tone all over the whole model. This is using the green primer as the base flesh tone.
Above. The Trolls Fur and hair painted in Brown Leather.
Below. The Trolls with the rest painted in solid blocks..
Everything but the green flesh and big rock got one or two
coats, or more, of Quickshade Mid Brown Wash, adding
more till I was happy with shades. As I still had some
Green Tone about I splodged a bit of it the fur and hair at
random just to see what I would looked like. Then the Big
Rock got a coating of Quickshade Washes Blue Tone
Ink overall, and once it was dry, I painted on some small
blobs of Green Tone and a tiny bit of the Mid Brown
Wash as a nod to weathering processes.
VARNISH
As before these models are to be troops on the table not
cabinet pieces they needed a good protective coat of
varnish, two coats of Anti-Shine Matt Varnish, brushed on.
FINISHING
I used the same mixed up basing compound as on all the
Oathmark Express troops, which is made up by John by
the bucket. It is self-coloured and dries to a rock hard
mostly matt dark brown textured finish. Once the
compound was thoroughly dry and hard it was dry-
brushed with Desert Yellow, then painted the base edges
with Oak Brown and covered the base with various
flocks. I also had planted on the bases of the two trolls
not throwing a big rock, a couple of big rocks matching
the one being thrown! These are slate pieces I pinched
from a neighbour’s drive and placed them whilst the
basing compound was wet, and they were stuck firm as it
dried, and then I painted and washed them to match the
rock being hurled by the other troll.
coats, or more, of Quickshade Mid Brown Wash, adding
more till I was happy with shades. As I still had some
Green Tone about I splodged a bit of it the fur and hair at
random just to see what I would looked like. Then the Big
Rock got a coating of Quickshade Washes Blue Tone
Ink overall, and once it was dry, I painted on some small
blobs of Green Tone and a tiny bit of the Mid Brown
Wash as a nod to weathering processes.
VARNISH
As before these models are to be troops on the table not
cabinet pieces they needed a good protective coat of
varnish, two coats of Anti-Shine Matt Varnish, brushed on.
FINISHING
I used the same mixed up basing compound as on all the
Oathmark Express troops, which is made up by John by
the bucket. It is self-coloured and dries to a rock hard
mostly matt dark brown textured finish. Once the
compound was thoroughly dry and hard it was dry-
brushed with Desert Yellow, then painted the base edges
with Oak Brown and covered the base with various
flocks. I also had planted on the bases of the two trolls
not throwing a big rock, a couple of big rocks matching
the one being thrown! These are slate pieces I pinched
from a neighbour’s drive and placed them whilst the
basing compound was wet, and they were stuck firm as it
dried, and then I painted and washed them to match the
rock being hurled by the other troll.
Above. The Trolls with the washes applied.
Above. The Trolls varnished.
Above & Below. The Trolls finished.
I was waiting for Trolls. They were in the rules, so I hoped
they would be along sometime and I could get one more
of the different troops I wanted for the evil side in my
quest to build Lord of the Rings armies unofficially for
Oathmark™. True I did have one Troll, a big lovely
double-headed bruiser, sculpted by my friend Mr
Copplestone for Frostgrave, and it was fine and good, but
I wanted a whole unit of three, and the two heads thing
still bothered me a bit, not being quite, err, quite
Tolkienesque enough, if you follow me… and if you
haven’t been following my fast painting lockdown and post
lockdown escapades you won’t have a clue what I’m on
about. Best thing is to read OATHMARK EXPRESS from
the start, click here, or briefly, wargaming buddy John
Treadaway and I wrote a series of articles detailing the
fast building and painting, in lockdown and beyond, of
some Lord of the Rings armies for Oathmark™.
IDEAL TROLLS
For me the new Oathmark™ Trolls are just perfect for
Tolkien normal cave or hill Trolls, just the sort to chuck big
rocks or turn to stone in sunlight, and ideal for what I
wanted. Michael Anderson’s lovely sculpts are perfect for
they would be along sometime and I could get one more
of the different troops I wanted for the evil side in my
quest to build Lord of the Rings armies unofficially for
Oathmark™. True I did have one Troll, a big lovely
double-headed bruiser, sculpted by my friend Mr
Copplestone for Frostgrave, and it was fine and good, but
I wanted a whole unit of three, and the two heads thing
still bothered me a bit, not being quite, err, quite
Tolkienesque enough, if you follow me… and if you
haven’t been following my fast painting lockdown and post
lockdown escapades you won’t have a clue what I’m on
about. Best thing is to read OATHMARK EXPRESS from
the start, click here, or briefly, wargaming buddy John
Treadaway and I wrote a series of articles detailing the
fast building and painting, in lockdown and beyond, of
some Lord of the Rings armies for Oathmark™.
IDEAL TROLLS
For me the new Oathmark™ Trolls are just perfect for
Tolkien normal cave or hill Trolls, just the sort to chuck big
rocks or turn to stone in sunlight, and ideal for what I
wanted. Michael Anderson’s lovely sculpts are perfect for
OATHMARK EXPRESS
Above. Hill Trolls; Tom, Bert, and William.
my idea of a big ugly, dim witted Tolkien Trolls, seen
occasionally on battlefields in Middle Earth, I think of them
as Tom, Bert, and William. While Troll stats in
Oathmark™ don’t quite correspond to the Tolkien
originals, they weren’t a bad fit, so the stats for a basic
unarmoured Troll could stand for my Tolkien Trolls too.
ALTERNATIVE TROLLS
During my wait for the official Trolls, of which I had no
inkling till they turned up one day of course (Nick likes to
surprise me), I did cast about for some other alternatives
than the beautiful two-headed Copplestone sculpted
Frostgrave Snow Troll that I had already repurposed for
these armies. I couldn’t find any unarmoured Trolls that
pleased me, so I would have to wait, but I did find some
armoured stand-ins in an exotic place. I’m not sure they
work, so I’ll not picture them here, they were “toy” soft
plastic armoured Orcs approx 60mm tall. They are
extremely crude so do not bear any sort of close
inspection, but they were relatively cheap and cheerful
and came all the way from Ukraine! I might use them in an
emergency…
occasionally on battlefields in Middle Earth, I think of them
as Tom, Bert, and William. While Troll stats in
Oathmark™ don’t quite correspond to the Tolkien
originals, they weren’t a bad fit, so the stats for a basic
unarmoured Troll could stand for my Tolkien Trolls too.
ALTERNATIVE TROLLS
During my wait for the official Trolls, of which I had no
inkling till they turned up one day of course (Nick likes to
surprise me), I did cast about for some other alternatives
than the beautiful two-headed Copplestone sculpted
Frostgrave Snow Troll that I had already repurposed for
these armies. I couldn’t find any unarmoured Trolls that
pleased me, so I would have to wait, but I did find some
armoured stand-ins in an exotic place. I’m not sure they
work, so I’ll not picture them here, they were “toy” soft
plastic armoured Orcs approx 60mm tall. They are
extremely crude so do not bear any sort of close
inspection, but they were relatively cheap and cheerful
and came all the way from Ukraine! I might use them in an
emergency…
PAINTING TROLLS
Keeping on the same track in this Oathmark Express
series, the Trolls were to be super fast painted so no
shading or highlighting and a straight neat paint job, then
Army Painter Quickshade Washes all over to provide
all the shading and contrast.
After what I had done with the Revenants last time I had
no plans to use Army Painter Quickshade - Strong
Shade varnish, relying totally on washes and the quality
of the models and the neatness of my painting. Having
had a proper look at the Trolls I was pretty confident it
would work OK. Don’t be intimated by their size they have
a lot of nice detail.
PRIMER
The models were sprayed up with car primer as I had to
photograph them anyway, and then given a coat of Army
Painter Uniform Army Green Colour Primer Spray.
series, the Trolls were to be super fast painted so no
shading or highlighting and a straight neat paint job, then
Army Painter Quickshade Washes all over to provide
all the shading and contrast.
After what I had done with the Revenants last time I had
no plans to use Army Painter Quickshade - Strong
Shade varnish, relying totally on washes and the quality
of the models and the neatness of my painting. Having
had a proper look at the Trolls I was pretty confident it
would work OK. Don’t be intimated by their size they have
a lot of nice detail.
PRIMER
The models were sprayed up with car primer as I had to
photograph them anyway, and then given a coat of Army
Painter Uniform Army Green Colour Primer Spray.
Fur and hair – Brown Leather
Teeth – Skeleton Bone
Gums & Tongues – Oak Brown
Rope – Hemp Rope
Loincloths – Combat Fatigue, Chaotic Red, Field Grey
Big Rock – Uniform Grey
Teeth – Skeleton Bone
Gums & Tongues – Oak Brown
Rope – Hemp Rope
Loincloths – Combat Fatigue, Chaotic Red, Field Grey
Big Rock – Uniform Grey
Above. The Trolls sprayed with car primer
EXPRESS YOURSELF
Don’t be afraid to have a go, one layer of paint some
washes, no highlighting, just neatness, good models and
decent bases and get some armies on the battlefield
quick.
What next? You never know what I might need to add,
more Dwarves, perhaps some Human cavalry or some
more creatures.
TOM, BERT, AND WILLIAM?
The three Trolls Bilbo meets in the Hobbit.
washes, no highlighting, just neatness, good models and
decent bases and get some armies on the battlefield
quick.
What next? You never know what I might need to add,
more Dwarves, perhaps some Human cavalry or some
more creatures.
TOM, BERT, AND WILLIAM?
The three Trolls Bilbo meets in the Hobbit.
Building armies carries on
Part 5: Tom, Bert, and William
Kev Dallimore